European subsidies and developing countries

doi:10.1136/bmj.331.7530.1475-b

BMJ 2005;331:1475-1476 (17 December), doi:10.1136/bmj.331.7530.1475-b

Letter

European subsidies and developing countries

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

EDITOR—There is intuitive appeal in suggesting that excessfood production in Europe has resulted in farmers from developingcountries not being able to compete in the international agriculturalmarket.¹ A more important question, however, is how has failureto compete influenced the life of country farmers or citizensin developing countries?

Most inhabitants of developing nations are rural dwellers—forexample, over 70% of Nigeria's population.² Most are subsistencefarmers who produce foods for family and local markets. Theyhave never traded internationally and may never do so. However,a few urban dwellers are professional farmers practising mediumto large scale mechanised farming. These are the few who havebeen unable to compete. Their food productions never servedthe needs of the larger population. Therefore, while the suggestedchanges in the European agricultural policy might improve theoutlook for obesity and healthy nutrition in developing countries,they are likely . . . [Full text of this article]