From Foreign Policy Association:
"The news continues to worsen in the Horn of Africa, as the United Nations has declared famine in two regions in southern Somalia. What was regarded just recently as a severe humanitarian crisis has now crossed the threshold to famine, defined by the BBC as:
More than 30% of children must be suffering from acute malnutrition
Two adults or four children must be dying of hunger each day for every group of 10,000 people
The population must have access to far below 2,100 kilocalories of food per day
Nearly 3 million people in Somalias south endangered in the famine-stricken regions of Bakool and Lower Shabelle. Meanwhile, aid agencies struggle to secure safe access to areas of Somalia controlled by Al Shabab, the Al Qaeda affiliated militants who control parts of Somalia and who have only made a bad situation worse. The militants chased away aid organizations from parts of Somalia last year and are also accused of siphoning off aid shipments or levying taxes on Somalis for access to aid to fund their activities. They have now asked foreign aid agencies to return, and although there is continued fear for the safety of aid workers, the need is too great to stay away."
The famine hitting Somalia is blame on the bad weather condition-drought and civil war. But what the UN and western powers do not mention is that the US and EU have a large part to play in this tragedy. The US and EU are using subsidies in agriculture and they are blocking the WTO negotiation to liberalize agriculture. By subsidizing their agricultural producers, the US and EU are indirectly destroying the agricultural sector of more vulnerable countries in Africa. Agricultural producers in the US and EU are being funded by their Governments thus they can export and produce in excess in the world market despite having no comparative advantage in agricultural production. Thus producers from Africa cannot export their products and use technology and mechanization in their production and marketing. Not to mention protectionsim and technical barriers to trade imposed by the EU and the US on agricultural products from Africa. For instance Africa is supposed to be a majot producer of cotton because having comparative advantage in this sector but due to massive use of subsidies, the US has monopolized this market just like for other agricultural products. Now the US is producing in excess and it is donating this excess to Somalia to alleviate the famine. This is really hypocrisy. The US and EU are enriching a small handful of their producers thereby indirectly reducing to famine millions of African agricultural producers. The African producers cannot produce, market and export due to depressed prices while producers from the EU and US are being funded by their government thus they could massively produce in excess and even export to Africa. Aid donation form the Western powers are just hypocrisis they know that the only solution is to liberalize the agruicututral sector, open their market and stop subsidizing their handful of producers.
"The news continues to worsen in the Horn of Africa, as the United Nations has declared famine in two regions in southern Somalia. What was regarded just recently as a severe humanitarian crisis has now crossed the threshold to famine, defined by the BBC as:
More than 30% of children must be suffering from acute malnutrition
Two adults or four children must be dying of hunger each day for every group of 10,000 people
The population must have access to far below 2,100 kilocalories of food per day
Nearly 3 million people in Somalias south endangered in the famine-stricken regions of Bakool and Lower Shabelle. Meanwhile, aid agencies struggle to secure safe access to areas of Somalia controlled by Al Shabab, the Al Qaeda affiliated militants who control parts of Somalia and who have only made a bad situation worse. The militants chased away aid organizations from parts of Somalia last year and are also accused of siphoning off aid shipments or levying taxes on Somalis for access to aid to fund their activities. They have now asked foreign aid agencies to return, and although there is continued fear for the safety of aid workers, the need is too great to stay away."
The famine hitting Somalia is blame on the bad weather condition-drought and civil war. But what the UN and western powers do not mention is that the US and EU have a large part to play in this tragedy. The US and EU are using subsidies in agriculture and they are blocking the WTO negotiation to liberalize agriculture. By subsidizing their agricultural producers, the US and EU are indirectly destroying the agricultural sector of more vulnerable countries in Africa. Agricultural producers in the US and EU are being funded by their Governments thus they can export and produce in excess in the world market despite having no comparative advantage in agricultural production. Thus producers from Africa cannot export their products and use technology and mechanization in their production and marketing. Not to mention protectionsim and technical barriers to trade imposed by the EU and the US on agricultural products from Africa. For instance Africa is supposed to be a majot producer of cotton because having comparative advantage in this sector but due to massive use of subsidies, the US has monopolized this market just like for other agricultural products. Now the US is producing in excess and it is donating this excess to Somalia to alleviate the famine. This is really hypocrisy. The US and EU are enriching a small handful of their producers thereby indirectly reducing to famine millions of African agricultural producers. The African producers cannot produce, market and export due to depressed prices while producers from the EU and US are being funded by their government thus they could massively produce in excess and even export to Africa. Aid donation form the Western powers are just hypocrisis they know that the only solution is to liberalize the agruicututral sector, open their market and stop subsidizing their handful of producers.
