farmers Farmers in the world's 30 richest countries received almost a third of their income through subsidies last year, equivalent to a thumping $257 billion, according to the OECD.
The most heavily subsidised agricultural industries were in Switzerland, Norway, Korea and Japan, where subsidies accounted for between 58 and 74 percent of farm receipts. countries, especially those producing cotton.
US trade negotiators, defending a system in which the US massively subsidises domestic producers, managed to persuade West African countries to include cotton in the "agricultural" negotiations on the basis of promising swifter progress: but in the end the only concession to the Africans is a promise to set up a WTO sub-committee. There is no commitment to end subsidies on cotton.
The new agreement is the product of new "divide and rule" tactics. In Cancun, a new "Group of 20', an alliance of developing countries domi-