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Africa News from FPIF
http://www.fpif.org

July 21, 2005
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Introducing a new policy analysis from Foreign Policy In Focus

The Limits of Cotton: White Gold Shows its Dark Side in Benin
By Leif Brottem

One surprise theme of the star-studded resurgence of global concern
about Africa has been cotton farming, an industry on which over 15
million Africans depend on for their livelihoods. Oxfam, a UK-based
charity and development organization, has led an effective campaign to
bring cotton subsidies in rich countries to the forefront of the debate
on extreme poverty in Africa.

Eliminating the billions of dollars in handouts to some 25,000 American
cotton growers would benefit countries in West and Central Africa that
depend heavily on exporting the crop. However, the belief that cotton
is a panacea for rural Africans ignores a huge problem: in the regions
where the crop is grown, the land is being destroyed.

Leif Brottem is a Foreign Policy In Focus scholar (online at
http://www.fpif.org). He wrote this article following two years of
grassroots conservation work with local people in the most productive
agricultural district of Benin.

See new article online at:
http://www.fpif.org/fpiftxt/160

With printer-friendly pdf version at:
http://www.fpif.org/pdf/reports/PR0507cotton.pdf

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