After milk powder, rice is on the rise...

Last month, on June 10, we wrote in this bulletin “The price of milk powder is rising sharply”. Today we see that the price of rice is following the same trend. Experts foresee that it will double very soon on the world market. Some do not hesitate to state that the urban populations of West Africa are “taken hostage” by that same market. Who is to blame? Once again, on the subject of food sovereignty, liberal theories have failed blatantly. The leaders of the West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMOU) bear the prime responsibility for the present state of affairs. If those who introduced the Common External Customs Tariff (CET) in 2000 had had the courage to tax imports of rice and milk powder at 60%, this situation would not have occurred. Part of the income generated by such an import duty could have been allocated to a rapid development of these two sectors. Burkina Faso and Mali (to take two examples from the countries in West Africa which I am most familiar with) would have come close to self-sufficiency in rice and milk production today. If producers had had the certainty of being able to sell their products at a fair price, they would have doubled their efforts to match supply with demand.

On December 3, 2004 rice growers in Burkina Faso, Benin, Ghana, Niger, Mali, Senegal and Togo handed in a petition to the WAEMOU bodies concerned, demanding an immediate increase in the customs tariff from 10 to 20% and a thorough reform of the CET, in order to ensure that an appropriate agricultural policy be applied, both by the WAEMOU and the ECOWAS. Such a scenario was already drawn up in the ECOWAP, the joint agricultural policy of the ECOWAS. The farmers have not received any reply. Their request is perhaps still being studied. . .

Today the citizens of these countries are at the mercy of the world market. They will have to buy their rice and their milk at the high going price, from which only the exporting countries will benefit. But the farmers could turn this situation to their advantage. They could start to produce more, although without the support of additional income.

The prices of other food stuffs, such as palm oil, are also soaring on the world market. Will the trend of all these price movements finally serve as a wake up call for the WAEMOU and the ECOWAS (and their president in office) so that a reform of the CET, including a new 50% tariff band, is undertaken? This is urgently needed, but the officials of both institutions – sure to receive their pay check at the end of the month – seem to be less in a hurry than rice growers and other farmers.

Koudougou, July 9, 2007
Maurice Oudet
Director, SEDELAN

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