The West helps, and harms, as Southern Africa seeks food

Critics also say that the large farm subsidies paid by wealthy countries to their own farmers hurt farmers in developing countries. The subsidized farmers can flood the market and sell their goods for less than it costs to grow them; the governments make up the difference. Poor farmers can't compete with such low prices, keeping them out of international markets, and keeping their countries from gaining economically.

According to the World Trade Organization, rich countries gave $57 billion in development aid in 2001 but paid more than $350 billion to their own farmers. World Bank figures suggest that giving developing countries more access to rich markets could earn them about $150 billion a year.

"We're subsidizing farmers in the north to the tune of $1 billion a day to preserve the quality of life of those in the north," says Pedro Sanchez, a professor at the College of Natural Resources at the University of California, Berkeley. "Whereas there is only negligible support for poor farmers in Africa and the rest of the developing world. The already strong in this case are only getting stronger."

Sarah Lowe of Oxfam International, a confederation of 12 development agencies working to find solutions to poverty, says that while many poor countries were convinced by international lending organizations to open up trade, wealthier countries did not do the same.

"The IMF [International Monetary Fund] pressured countries in this region to liberalize their economies - reduce their emergency grain reserves, dismantle their state marketing boards, and remove farm subsidies," Ms. Lowe says. "And what happened? Grain production slumped because farmers no longer received guaranteed prices for their crops, and many could no longer afford inputs like fertilizers, so the price of staples like corn skyrocketed. Meanwhile, the rich countries continued along with their own farm subsidies."

In a recent report, Oxfam illustrates the damage being done by subsidies by looking at handouts given by the EU to sugar farmers in Europe. These farmers then produce surpluses, which flood the world market at artificially low prices.

Meanwhile, South Africa, Malawi, Swaziland, and Zambia - all low-cost sugar producers - are unable to tap potential markets in North America or the Middle East because they are outbid by the subsidized European producers, according to the Oxfam report.

"This means that an agricultural commodity that could play a real part in poverty alleviation in Southern Africa does not do so," the Oxfam report said. "European consumers are paying to destroy livelihoods in some of the world's poorest countries."

Western countries are beginning to see the harm done by subsidies and trade barriers. At the August World Summit on Sus- tainable Development in Johannesburg, debate over the contentious issue of farm subsidies raged, pitting developing nations against their wealthy counterparts.

The US and the EU affirmed their commitment to helping agricultural practices in the developing world through projects aimed at encouraging sustainable farming, diversifying crops, and expanding winter harvesting. Western countries committed to "move toward phasing out export subsidies and reduce trade-distorting domestic support," though it was generally seen as nonbinding and weak.

Just last week, the Bush Administration proposed the creation of the Southern African Free Trade and Development Agreement with South Africa, Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, and Swaziland in an effort to open US markets to African goods.

Diamond shakes his head when asked where the corn he has received as food aid came from, or how it got to the distribution center, or whether he will always be able to get free handouts.

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