Why the jam made by the Carmelite Sisters of Moundasso (Burkina Faso)  will still be more expensive than jam imported from Europe, even after the reform of the Common Agricultural Policy.(CAP)

I am a French man living in Burkina Faso for more than thirty years. I am concerned by the reform of the Common Agricultural Policy of the European Community. (CAP) When the Catholic Bishops of the European Union take a position on the reform of the CAP, I am interested. The bishops have, in fact, published two declarations of on the question:

The first, dated the 30^th March 2001, is under the title: “The Crisis in European Agriculture and its consequences”. Declaration of the Commission of the Episcopates of the European Community – (COMECE)

The second, dated the 29th November 2002, is under the title: « Towards a lasting model of agriculture for Europe ». (Comments by the Commission of the Episcopates of the European Community – (COMECE)

I am more than happy with what they wrote in their first declaration: "the subsidies for the exports of the surplus in production upset the world markets and seriously impede the already fragile agricultural development of the poor countries.”. I see that the bishops of Europe understand how international trade crushes the poor farmers of the South and more especially of Africa.  

Again I was happy when they wrote in 2002: “The earliest and complete abolition of export subsidies is, in our opinion, a question of political credibility for the EU, which rightly wants to play a more important and exemplary role on the international scene. It is also just as necessary from an ethical point of view. It is neither right nor just that the excess of production, the result of an erroneous pricing policy, should be sold cheaply with yet more subsidies onto the world market at prices so low that the producers in the poor countries can no longer compete with them.”

But my joy is short-lived. When I read these two declarations more attentively, I see that the European Bishops have no hesitation in supporting the reforms to the CAP. These will only change the production and export subsidies into direct aid or into aid tied to the diversification of agriculture. They write for example:  

 “We support the principal ideas of the 1992 and 1999 reforms to the European agricultural policy, aiming to reduce subsidies by guaranteeing prices and compensating for this reduction by direct subsidies to the farmers, systems which could, moreover, be linked to environmental standards.”

The European Commission has done a good job. It has succeeded in convincing people of its reforms to such an extent that our bishops no longer ask questions about it. They have simply forgotten to inquire what this reform will mean for poor countries. It seems to me that the words of Christ are still meaningful: “For the children of this world are more astute in dealing with their own kind than are the children of light.'

  Here is an example which illustrates how the reform of the CAP will change nothing as far as the poor countries are concerned.

  Burkina Faso produces an abundance of fruit and sugar. Why, then, do we continue to import jam from Europe? This was the mistaken “good idea” of some Carmelite Sisters, as well as Mrs. Ouedraogo and a few other people and the company Savana. So they got to work. But when they did their sums, they realised that they would have to sell their produce dearer than the neighbouring business which sells jam imported from Europe. How can this be possible, asked the sisters? They had not taken into account the CAP subsidies, which allow European farmers to sell their produce to food processors at a price lower than their production costs. 

  When the CAP reforms are complete the European farmers will still be able to sell their produce below the price of production. They will still receive enough direct aid or aid tied to the diversity of agriculture. European agricultural industries will remain healthy. This is what the PAC reforms are all about.

  The farmers of the poor countries, however, will continue to be taxed so that the state can pay its civil servants.

To understand what’s at stake in the CAP reforms one needs to look at what is actually happening in the World Trade Organisation (WTO). To understand the mechanism of dumping and the subsidies authorised by the WTO one could read: “La PAC et l'Accord sur l'agriculture de l'OMC" (commentaries by Jacques Berthelot).

The countries of the South are under fantastic pressure to do away with the little amount of customs protection they have been able to keep. In exchange of which the North dangles the prospect of an easier access to their markets. The governments of the North promise to reduce – even to suppress – their production and export subsidies. But, in fact, they only change the appearance of this aid. So the countries of the North can continue to export their products, especially their agricultural products (and the products of the food industry).  

This action probably condemns 800 million small farmers to a life of misery. I am sure that the European bishops did not intend this. So I am hoping for a third declaration from them which will take into account this time the world environment, and especially the countries of the South. I would like them to hear the cry of the poor, the cry of the poor farmers of the poor South: especially those of the Via Campesina, a world-wide small farmers movement, and the ROPPA (the Network of Farmers’ and Agricultural Producers’ Organisations of West Africa). In their common press release of the 17^th July 2001 they underlined:

“The decision of the EU to open its agricultural market, without customs dues, to the products of the Least Advanced Countries is contrary to the real needs of these countries. It was taken more to justify the penetration of the markets of the Least Advanced Countries by the exporters of the EU… The priorities of the small farmers of the these countries are firstly to produce enough for their own families, then to have access to the interior market, before the need of exporting. The European decision works against these priorities and increases the profits of the large firms using the resources and the man-power of the Least Advanced Countries for export crops towards the EU…

The farmers of the Via Campesina and ROPPA reaffirm the right of the countries and groups of countries of the South and the North to protect their agriculture and their market so as  to remunerate equally the work and the products of family farming exploitations”.

Maurice Oudet
Koudougou, 3 January 

May God make vigilant

Those who praise the Lord:

That they be not also

The accomplices of misfortune

Where their brothers are concerned!

              
        (Hymn of Lent in the Breviary)