Agriculture: the great global gap in public aid between rich and poor countries

In Europe, the anger of the agricultural world does not weaken.

Among their demands, farmers are asking in particular for simplification in the allocation of public aid.

Funds which, although they have been declining for twenty years, remain very important for developed economies.

This is shown by a study by the Foundation for Agriculture and Rurality in the World (FARM) which highlights a “ 

big global gap

 ” with poor countries.

A wheat farmer in Cremona, in the Canadian province of Alberta, September 18, 2023. AP - Jeff McIntosh

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The observatory's conclusion is simple: the richer a country is, the more it supports its farmers.

Unsurprisingly, spending is highest in North America and Europe, the two leading exporting regions of agricultural products.

An operator in the European Union thus receives, on average over three years, nearly $12,000 in public aid.

In the United States, it’s nearly four times as much, with more than $45,000 in aid.

Read alsoEuropean agriculture ministers approve CAP simplification proposals

Conversely, in middle-income countries, the envelope for farmers is shrinking.

It is barely $100 in Ethiopia and drops to $17 in the case of Ghana.

The

Foundation for Agriculture and Rurality in the World

(FARM) focuses on the case of Africa and notes that governments “ 

above all protect consumers to the detriment of agricultural producers

 ”.

It is this last sector which must be supported, notes the foundation, which welcomes in this sense the holding in

Dakar, at the end of January 2023

, of the second summit on food sovereignty and resilience.

Also read: Agriculture in Africa: “More investment is needed in the agri-food system”

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  • Agriculture and Fishing

  • European Union

  • UNITED STATES

  • Ethiopia

  • Ghana