Global Policy Forum

by Charlotte Denny and John Vidal

This is a tale of two farmers, Joao Bila, a 30-year-old sugar cane cutter in Mozambique, and Matthew Twidale, a 68-year-old sugar beet farmer from near Kirklington in the East Midlands. Matthew's family has been farming locally since 1570, about the time the first Portuguese trading posts were being established on the coast of what is now Mozambique. Times are as tough for farmers as he can remember, he says.

"My dad used to talk about how difficult things were in the 1930s but I think it is as bad now," he says. The only bright spot is the sugar beet crop, which is keeping the rest of the farm afloat. Under the EU's sugar price fixing deal he made £34,000 from his 30 hectares (80 acres) of beet last year, which made up for poor returns on other crops. It is not enough to support three families though, so his two adult sons who also work on the farm have second jobs.

Joao knows all about tough times. Yesterday he spent nine hours without a break cutting cane for the Maragra sugar company, a South African firm which is rebuilding Mozambique's sugar industry. He earned 99p.

Joao has few other options. Desperately poor Mozambique, still recovering from a decade of civil war and massive flooding three years ago, is totally dependent on agriculture. Sugar is the largest employer. He is fortunate to have work at all, and the 20,000 people who live in nearby Manhica queue up to work at Maragra.

When the Portuguese ruled Mozambique, sugar cane was a vital export crop. But the industry was devastated during the civil war which followed independence. Despite being one of the world's most efficient sugar producers, Mozambique's industry is now being strangled by the web of tariffs, price deals and quotas which rule the world sugar market, protecting western farmers like Matthew. In a bizarre reversal of colonial ties, Europe is exporting sugar back to many of its former colonies in Africa, capturing markets Mozambique could be supplying.

Joao has never heard of European agricultural subsidies, farmers earning £60,000 a year for growing sugar Europe does not need, or next week's world development summit in Johannesburg 300 miles away. All he knows is that while his job is comparatively well paid by local standards - the average wage in Mozambique is less than £150 a year - it is barely enough to survive. Last April Jaoa joined other canecutters in a short strike over pay. Maragra pays more than the legal minimum but there is only work for six months of the year.

"I have four children and there is no money for clothes, medicine or schools," he says. "My dream is just to have a full-time job. We all get malaria and other illnesses. It is very hard work." His colleague Bernardo can barely speak from exhaustion after the day's work. "We work in teams. Before the strike we had to work 10 hours a day without a break and if we didn't finish a set area, we didn't get paid. Now it is a bit better, but I have nothing for my family."

Matthew is also worried about his family. He thinks that if the EU opens up its markets to the sugar produced by Bernardo and Joao, it will force his sons off the farm. "My sons are asking what does the future hold? They say to me, 'Dad, should we be looking for something else to do?'" The prospect of selling up appalls him.

Matthew sees nothing wrong with the EU paying him twice the price for his sugar that it costs to produce in Mozambique. "Consumers can afford to pay these prices," he says. "I'm entitled to a decent standard of living."

But for Alexandre Muguambe, a leader of the national sugar workers' union, Europe's sweet deal for its farmers is nothing less than an international crime. "What on earth is the interest of the EU in growing sugar?" he asks. "We can produce it for half the price yet we are not allowed to sell it." If Europe opened up its markets, Alexandre believes Maragra could expand its exports, employ more workers and pay them better. "Trade is an important way to eradicate poverty," he says. "We are a totally agricultural country and if we had the market we could triple production and improve conditions."

Standing in a field of his sugar beet which is nearly ready for harvest, Matthew furrows his brow as he considers the position of Mozambique's industry. As chairman of the National Farmers Union's sugar beet committee he is familiar with demands by aid agencies and campaigners to increase imports from countries like Mozambique.

"Tony Blair has been going around saying we should help Africa," he says. "Well that's all very good, but his preferred method is through freeing up agriculture markets. That is going to reduce our standards of living. Why shouldn't people in towns have to pay as well?"

In fact, taxpayers and consumers are already paying, but at the moment, the chief aid recipients are Europe's farmers. Each year the EU spends $100bn on direct subsidies. Higher prices add to the costs for consumers. Oxfam calculates that the sugar regime alone costs European consumers €800m (£510m) a year.

Tony Currie, a Maragra executive, says if the world sugar market were fairer, the company would be able export more and pay higher wages. "If we could export more to Europe we would be able to invest in social and health care," he says. "We want to expand. At the moment Mozambique is allowed to export just 8,500 tonnes to Europe, and 13,000 tonnes to the US. This is less than 10% of our production." Before the civil war, sugar employed 46,000 people, according to Alexandre Muguambe of the sugar workers' union. Now it employs just 24,000 and great areas of the country are paralysed. "The EU is increasing the poverty of the poorest people," he says. "Western countries preach to us about free trade but it does not happen."

FAIR USE NOTICE: This page contains copyrighted material the use of which has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. Global Policy Forum distributes this material without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. We believe this constitutes a fair use of any such copyrighted material as provided for in 17 U.S.C íŸ 107. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond fair use, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.