Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2002-10-23-Speech-3-299"
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"en.20021023.7.3-299"2
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"Mr President, agriculture, support for rural development and the protection of rural communities are at the heart of Mr Khanbhai's report and he addresses many of the fundamental inequities which feature so prominently in the lives of the rural poor. Clearly, as other speakers have said, the European Union and its Member States have a very important role to play. I think we need to show much more understanding of the real reasons for the so-called urban drift from rural areas and of the effect of the systems and structures which conspire to destroy the livelihoods of millions who live by the land.
The European Union is, of course, part of the solution. As the biggest trading block, we have an important role to play. I have to say that it is sheer hypocrisy to continue to protect our own agricultural competitive position with higher resources, while at the same time forcing developing countries to liberalise. Rapid opening of their markets threatens food security and sustainable livelihoods in developing countries. The parallel negotiations which will be going on at the WTO and between the ACP and the European Union must be used as an opportunity to show that the European Union clearly understands that trade and market access and tariff levels are directly and inextricably linked to our understanding of how we meet those critical millennium development goals.
The paradox is that, in a time of global plenty, farmers in developing countries are abandoning the land and agriculture. They simply cannot compete with heavily subsidised food flooding into their markets and dumped on their markets. The report describes the effect of the dumping of milk on Jamaica and the dumping of beef on West Africa. In Uganda, for instance, the coffee growers are suffering enormously. One hundred and fifty Ugandan shillings are what a grower gets for a kilo of the coffee he grows. If you go down to the Sheraton in Kampala, you pay one thousand Ugandan shillings for one single cup of coffee.
With growers receiving such a poor reward for their efforts, it is not surprising that Oxfam describes this as a situation that affects health and education and the whole rural community.
So small farmers from Haiti to Mexico and Mozambique to Tanzania are simply selling up and selling out. They are unable to compete with the rich agricultural barons. That is the reality we are facing, one which Mr Khanbhai deals with very well indeed. He also gives us a very timely reminder in his report that 75% of the 1.2 billion living on less than one dollar a day are in rural areas. That certainly is a call to action."@en1
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