Farming feeds us all – over two billion people depend on it for their living. Yet it is in crisis as a result of the actions of rich governments and big business that control the rules of trade.

Instead of enabling hundreds of millions of people in the world’s poorest countries to help themselves out of poverty, trade rules ensure that they stay poor.

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The world’s richest farmers in Europe and the US are subsidised millions of dollars a day to produce more crops than their countries could ever need. With the help of yet more subsidies, these surpluses are then dumped on poor countries at much less than they cost to produce. Local farmers just can’t compete.

Rich countries and companies have done little to stop the collapse in the price of coffee and other crops, on which many of the world’s poorest farmers depend for a living. As well as this, powerful trading nations export whatever crops they like to poor countries. They then put up barriers to ensure that poor countries can’t do the same to them.

Downward spiral

Sometimes these barriers come in the form of taxes. Poor countries are taxed when they export their crops to rich countries. The taxes get higher as the crops become more processed. This makes it impossible for a poor country to reap the benefits of turning cocoa into chocolate bars or cotton into shirts.

It’s a downward spiral. Unfair trade ruins the lives of farmers all over the world. They then can’t afford to send their children to school, to buy medicines when they are sick, or feed their families. Whole countries suffer too – poor countries are missing out on millions of dollars in revenue because of unfair trade.

Yet this downward spiral could be reversed – making trade fair could help billions more people help their way out of poverty. Oxfam’s Make Trade Fair campaign calls on governments, global institutions and big business to give poor people a chance to work their way out of poverty. As part of this, you can add your voice to the 6 million people who have already joined Oxfam’s Big Noise petition. Make Trade Fair is part of the 2005 global push to Make Poverty History.