Wolfowitz: cut agricultural subsidies across the board

By Alex Singleton | 19 June 2005

World Bank president Paul Wolfowitz was in Burkina Faso last week visiting cotton manufacturers. He said that the Bank would be pushing strongly for the Doha trade talks to agreee to reduce agricultural subsidies. He also said that subsidies need to be cut across the board, not just in particular cases: "The key to tackling the problem of cotton subsidies, which obviously hurts farmers here in Burkina Faso and in other poor countries... is to tackle agricultural subsidies across the board (in the Doha trade round)."

According to Reuters: "[Burkina Faso], one of the world's poorest nations, overtook Mali this year as West and Central Africa's leading cotton producer by growing 630,000 tons. The World Bank estimates that cotton subsidies in the United States and Europe are cutting into the profits of seven West African producing countries by about $250 million a year."