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08/28/2003 Entry: "Cooking up trade"

A recipe for disaster from Christian Aid

Foul, tasteless and past its sell-by date

Ingredients23,105 tonnes of European or US chicken parts 222,560 tonnes of American long-grain white rice1,357,919 tonnes of soya oil mostly from the US 52,041 tonnes of onions, preferably Dutch69,400 tonnes of European tinned tomato paste.

Method1. Using subsidies, prepare the ingredients in rich countries.

2. Take a bunch of international organisations and use them to force open the markets of poor countries, ensuring the ingredients can enter with little or no duty.

3. Thoroughly tenderise markets by forcing governments in poor countries to cut any subsidies, cheap credit or technical advice they give to their farmers.

4. Freeze the chicken and ship it to Ghana where it will be sold more cheaply than Ghanaian chicken.

5. Dump the rice liberally on Honduras until it puts local rice farmers, who have no alternative source of income, out of business.

6. Fry the chances of Indian soya bean farmers in the soya oil.

7. Peel away the livelihoods of Senegalese onion farmers with European onions.

8. Smear the tomato paste over west Africa's markets until locally grown tomatoes have turned rotten.

ServesThe interests of rich countries and their big companies.

WTO in Cancun