Make Trade Fair
Make Trade Fair is a global campaign launched by the development aid organization Oxfam to promote equality for farmers in developing countries . It aims at the emancipation of trade for sugar , cocoa , cotton and coffee producers in developing countries, especially in Africa .
background
Today, agricultural producers in developing countries are often denied access to the markets of the industrialized countries , since the industrialized countries protect their own farmers against unpleasant competition through high import duties and subsidies . In addition, the industrialized countries use export subsidies to export their surpluses of cotton , sugar, rice, chicken, vegetables, etc. to developing countries at such low prices that the farmers there cannot compete with these " dumping prices ".
aims
The "Make Trade Fair" campaign has focused on eliminating several trade practices. With the campaign, Oxfam calls for the abolition of export subsidies, the payment of fair prices for agricultural products from developing countries and the opening of the markets of the industrialized countries.
Also, patent fights regulations that drive drug prices in developing countries in the air.
The main point of controversy is the basic orientation of Make Trade Fair on the export of agricultural products from developing to industrialized countries ( export orientation ). This concept is contrasted with that of food sovereignty , according to which every country should first produce for the needs of its own population and only secondarily for international markets.
Among other things, well-known actors and singers campaigned for Make Trade Fair and Fair Trade (e.g. Thom Yorke , Heike Makatsch , Chris Martin , Michael Stipe and Colin Firth )
criticism
An Oxfam study from 2002 with the aim of expanding access to the markets of the north for developing countries was criticized by several other NGOs for Oxfam's demand that poverty should be reduced primarily through the regulation of internal framework conditions in developing countries . Organizations such as Food First , which support a bottom-up approach to the problem of hunger , took the position that world trade in agricultural goods does not bring new market access opportunities for poor farmers, but rather undermines food security for their own needs.
See also
Web links
- www.oxfam.org (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Wendy Zavala Escobar: "Make trade fair" Oxfam campaign controversial. In: "Weitblick", published by Germanwatch . June 17, 2002, accessed February 12, 2018 .