African farmers and civil societies have blamed the United States for pursuing trade policies that have depressed world cotton prices.

African cotton farmers meeting in Nairobi on the forthcoming World Trade Organization ministerial conference to be held in Hong Kong next week heard that with the help of state subsidies, the US farmers have been dumping cotton on the world market at 35 percent of the real cost of production.

Irungu Houghton, the Chair of ActionAid International Kenya Board said Kenya's plan to invest hundreds of millions of shillings in the cotton sector will have very little impact if the trade distorting subsidies that keep global cotton prices depressed go unchallenged in the coming WTO ministerial conference.

Addressing cotton farmers from ten eastern, western and southern African countries in Nairobi, Irungu who is also a policy analyst described the cotton crisis as the "global scandal."

Despite the fact that farmers in Burkina Faso produce cotton three times more cost-effectively than their American counterparts, they sell less on the international market. "How can this be so, given the theory of the free market," lamented Irungu Houghton.

He decried the price-distorting heavy agricultural subsidies by the United States and called on Kenya to join hands with cotton producing countries to assertively challenge the subsidy regimes that undermine rural development, food and livelihood security.

The two-day ActionAid-sponsored meeting which ended on Thursday attracted farmers from Malawi, Zambia, Mozambique, Mali, Cameroon, Chad, Burkina Faso and Uganda and is aimed to take stock of agriculture and cotton initiative in WTO and develop a clear negotiating mandate ahead of the sixth December WTO ministerial meeting in Hong Kong.

Global trade talks aimed at further opening up markets in Africa to cheap industrial goods and services from the West have been deadlocked by the European Union and the United States inability to give any form of concessions on reducing the subsidies.

World Bank estimates show that the agricultural subsidies have reduced the price of cotton in the global markets by at least 20 percent, driving poverty among African farmers who previously depended on cotton as a major source of livelihood.

West African cotton farmers have incurred losses estimated at 250 million US dollars due to the lofty subsidies, currently put at 4 billion dollars a year for American farmers.

The cotton farmer's conference, which came ahead of the sixth WTO ministerial conference in Hong Kong, was convened to galvanize support against farm subsidies offered by the rich western nations during the Hong Kong talks.

Farmers and farmer-groups representatives from the African countries, government officials, research institutions and civil society representatives attended the talks to discuss, share experiences and develop a memorandum on trade issues with far reaching implications on the development of African agriculture.

The US government has pledged to marshal its forces within the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank to give financial support to African cotton farmers as part of efforts to rescue the global trade talks from the current deadlock.

But African nations have remained adamant that no deals would be struck on the agricultural fronts during the talks because of the huge agricultural subsidies given by the United States and the European Union unless these states remove market distortions.

Meanwhile, Kenya's Trade and Industry Permanent Secretary David Nalo said on Wednesday the African countries will lobby for the full elimination of agricultural subsidies by the United States and European Union at the Six Round of WTO talks to be held in Hong Kong.

Nalo said developing countries will negotiate for concessions that will rationalize agricultural trade and provide safeguards to sensitive products currently enjoying preferential market access.

He said the success of the Hong Kong round of talks will depend on the progress in securing Non-Agricultural Market Access, trade in services and development concerns.

The Kenyan delegation will demand the elimination of export subsidies that industrialized countries offer their companies, he added.

Source: Xinhua