Make Trade Fair

The US government pays its farmers $1billion a year to over-produce rice and dump the surplus at rock-bottom prices in poor countries. In Haiti, one fifth of the population has been driven out of business and into poverty as a result.

5 million farmers and their families are facing ruin because the US governments subsidises its corn farmers to over-produce and dump the surplus at rock-bottom prices in Mexico.

European wheat costs almost twice as much to produce as wheat from poor countries but – with the help of hand-outs from the European Union – it is dumped on poor countries at rock-bottom prices; pushing poor farmers out of business and into poverty.

This is an outrageous scandal. Unable to sell their tomatoes, farmers in Ghana are losing their livelihoods. Is this fair when European farmers are given subsidies of £250 million annually by the EU to grow excessive amounts of tomatoes?

Millions of poor farmers can't sell what they grow because rich countries are forcing poor countries to accept imports of cheap, often heavily subsidised, food. Rice provides a good example of the threats that poor farmers face.

Ten million cotton farming families in Africa are being forced into poverty because of unfair trade, which benefits just a few hundred cotton farming companies in the US.

Poor countries lose around $100 billion a year because rich country put up barriers, which prevent them making the most out of trade in crops such as cocoa.

The European Union gives its dairy farmers $2 a day in subsidies for every cow. This is more than half the world's population have to live on each day.

25 million growers face ruin because they don't get a decent price for their coffee – yet some of the world's biggest coffee companies continue to make big profits.

Over 1 billion people – most of them farmers and farm workers – live on $1 or less a day.

Poor countries lose around $100 billion a year – twice as much as they get in aid – because rich country put up barriers that prevent them making the most out of trade in crops such as peanuts.

Over 1 billion people – most of them farmers and farm workers – live on $1 or less a day.

Cheap oranges from Europe are dumped in Albania with the help of huge payouts from the European Union – driving orange farmers out of business and into poverty.

Every year the EU dumps more than 10 Million tons of dairy products on the world market. Millions of export subsidies make this possible. Dairy farmers in poor countries are at the receiving end of these unfair trade policies. Cheap European milk powder forces them out of the market and reduces them to poverty.