We are urgently developing research requirements with other European laboratories to make sure we understand and the disease (Schmallenberg) better.OFC '10: Farm subsidies must be redirected to world’s poor
AGRICULTURAL subsidies paid to Europe’s most wealthy landowners should be redirected to help the world’s poor.
Eighty per cent of Europe’s farm subsidies are paid to 20 per cent of its richest farmers, Phil Bloomer, campaigns and policy director, Oxfam, told the Oxford Farming Conference this morning (Tuesday, November 5).
But at the same time he said more than 90 million people had become ‘food insecure’ in the past two years and over one billion of the world’s population was starving.
“We need to take a long and hard look at the perverse incentives that define the CAP. Where is the public good in paying subsidies to the richest landowners? I can see none. Public money is too precious to be distributed in such a way.
“Significant agricultural subsidies could be redirected by putting caps on large payments to the wealthiest farmers who take the lion’s share of the EU’s budget,” said Mr Bloomer, who said the money should be redistributed to developing nations.
Mr Bloomer also attacked the inability of the developed world to reach an agreement on World Trade Talks.
There are 1.5 billion small-scale farmers struggling to make a living across the world’s poorest nations, he said, and European leaders should develop ‘a fairer system’ to guard against devastating price fluctuations and trade barriers.
Finally, Mr Bloomer called on Europe to find a fair and sustainable deal on climate change after the ‘failure to make a deal’ at the UN’s Copenhagen talks last month.
“Developing world farmers will suffer most from a change in temperatures,” he said, adding Europe had a duty to help poor farmers, both financially and through better technology, to reduce their impact.