The Cairns Group Farm Leaders, which comprises a group of farm organisations from various agricultural exporting countries, including South Africa, have expressed concern about the US administration’s announcement that it will provide $12-billion to support US farmers impacted by tariffs imposed on US agricultural exports.
The group said in a statement that these new subsidies would further distort global agricultural markets and hurt agricultural producers that receive little to no government support.
Instead of additional subsidies, Cairns Group Farm Leaders have called on the US administration to follow the advice of US farm organisations to restore market access for US agricultural goods and to end the trade war that has triggered the retaliatory tariffs that now negatively impact on that country’s agriculture.
“This spiralling trade war resolves nothing and hurts farmers and consumers alike.”
It is the Cairns Group Farm Leaders’ vision to create a world with an equitable and enforceable rules-based trading system in agriculture.
“We want to create the opportunity for our farmers to benefit from a sustainable agriculture sector and to contribute to the socioeconomic development of our countries,” the statement said.