USDA cotton program and West Africa

How do I know that Congress is debating the new farm bill? That's easy. I read about stories in the New York Times, Washington Post, and St. Louis Post-Dispatch denouncing our current farm bill. Then I read headlines related to the World Trade Organization ruling against the United States, "WTO panel slams U.S. cotton program-again." Or I see the Environmental Working Group web page with links to every negative article related to past and future farm policy.

It's easy to see why U.S. producers are so upset. One of the most interesting talking points is the outrage expressed by subsistence farmers in West Africa. Recently, I saw an article where a rich American Farmer is compared with a poor farmer in Burkina Faso. The gist of the article is that the American farmer lives in luxury compared to his poor counterpart in West Africa. It's all because of the subsidies, you understand. As the U.S. Farm bill pour millions into the coffers of the rich farmers, the African farmers are almost forced out of business.

To understand the situation, Burkina Faso is part of a group of cotton exporting counties in West Africa which also includes Chad, Mali, and Senegal. This group is known as the Cotton-4 or C-4. It is estimated that 10 million people in those countries are barely scraping out a living due to U.S. farm policy.

In the 1960's, the West African nations had only 1.3 percent of the world export market. By 2004, these C-4 countries had an impressive 13.6 percent of the world export market. In 2004, this region was third in exports behind North America and Central Asia.

Make no mistake about this; the United States is a major player in the world market for a reason. We have the best producers, best technology, best inputs, and the best managers. We produce much higher yields due to the adaptation of better growing systems and varieties. Our producers have heavily invested in irrigation systems to protect them from drought.

However, the U.S. agricultural subsidy system is not the total concern for the region. This economically deprived area does not have the best practices or infrastructure to increase the likelihood of success. They are not positioned to take advantage of changes in the world market value of cotton.

I saw an article on the web earlier this year that Burkina Faso is now considering the use of genetically modified cotton to overcome its problems of losses due to insects. If they adapted the use of the Bt trait which would make the plants resistant to several moth pests, then yield could increase 30-60 percent.

Let's look at the response from the National Cotton Council. It points out that while the U.S. is criticized for increasing world cotton supply, that in 2002 U.S. acreage was 13.7 million acres; in 2007 it was 10.6 million, a decrease of 23 percent. In the same time period, China, India, and Brazil, had increases in acreage of 46, 24, and 24 percent, respectively.

The average cotton yield in China, India, and Brazil has gone up by 14, 71, and 21 percent, respectively from 2002 to 2007. While this is an increase of 29 million bales from these countries from 2002 to 2007, West Africa's acreage is down by 20 percent. As the yield and production has increased in these countries, production has declined in the West African countries.

I was also amazed in one of the articles discussing the plight of the West Africans, mentioned that the Burkina Faso economic growth rate would tumble from 4.25 percent from last years 5.7 percent due to sharply lower cotton production. This drop was attributed by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to late rains and floods that occurred in Mid-August. They also addressed other issues of implementing reforms in tax and customs administration.

As a result of the WTO complaint in 2005, the U.S launched a West African Cotton Improvement Program. This includes Assistance through the Millennium Challenge Corporation to address long-term development obstacles in cotton. The G-8 debt relief package should free up resources for cotton.

The National Cotton Council and USAID co-sponsored regional entomologists to receive training on cotton insect problem in Africa and integrated pest management at Tuskegee University.

A U.S. delegation to Mali, worked with their African counterparts to make an in depth assessment of the cotton sector. They are working to reduce soil degradation and expand the use of good agricultural practices, strengthen private agricultural organizations, improve the quality of C-4 cotton through better classification of seed cotton and lint, provide regional training for ginners, and improving the environment for agricultural biotechnology. A study by the World Bank concluded that the adaptation of biotechnology would be much better than removing subsidies.

The American people and the U.S. government are the most generous in the world. When a disaster strikes, the U.S leads the way in alleviating suffering.

University of Missouri Extension programs are open to all

Dr. Michael R. Milam is an agronomy specialist and county program director for University of Missouri Extension in Dunklin County.