POOR FARM POLICY
The agriculture sector accounts for about 60% of African workers. Three-fifths of them are subsistence farmers, trying to eke enough food from their plot to feed their family. The rest work for large multinational industrial farms, or labor on huge export-crop fields.
The agriculture sector accounts for about 60% of African workers. Three-fifths of them are subsistence farmers, trying to eke enough food from their plot to feed their family. The rest work for large multinational industrial farms, or labor on huge export-crop fields.
Cash-strapped African governments try to squeeze every last penny out of their agricultural sector, imposing export taxes and commodity taxes on production. This drives up prices and drives down wages, increasing poverty rates. Meanwhile the governments of European nations and the US do the opposite: they subsidize farmers to the tune of $300 billion US per year.
In addition, African governments often are forced to sell their crops for bargain prices, in order to remain current on their foreign debt load. Importing nations in the developed world know that the producers have to sell at whatever price, so offer artificially low amounts for their produce.
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