Bishop John Hind shakes hands with onion producer Amadou Oumar Barro and wishes him luck for the future harvest. photo: Christian Aid/Louise Orton
'We saw for ourselves how unregulated trade can be so deeply damaging to a person’s life and hopes.'

Three UK bishops are taking part in the Global Week of Action in solidarity with farmers they met on a recent trip to Senegal.

The delegation, which included Bishop of Exeter, Michael Langrish; Bishop of Pontefract, Tony Robinson; and Bishop of Chichester, John Hind, were struck by the sense of powerlessness of the farmers, in the face of hard work and determination.

Bishop Tony Robinson said: ‘The farmers are working hard to help themselves, but they face so many obstacles, most of which are beyond their control’.

The farmers face internal problems such as recurring drought, locusts epidemics and lack of technology. And all of this is compounded by unfair trade, including cheap imports flooding the market.

Bishop of Exeter, Mr Michael Langrish said: ’We saw for ourselves how unregulated trade can be so deeply damaging to a person’s life and hopes. You couldn’t fail to be moved by the chicken farmer we met in Dakar.’

Imported frozen chickens

Ahmedu Mouktar Mbodj, was one of the leading chicken producers in the country, selling more than 10,000 chickens a month. But since the tariffs on imported frozen chicken was lowered from 60 to 20% in 2000, his business declined and he now only sells 500 chickens a month.

Imports of frozen chicken parts from Europe increased eleven-fold. And they are sold at a much cheaper price than their Senegalese counterparts. Ahmedu Mouktar explained: ‘We can’t sell our chickens as cheap because our chicken food is not subsidised as it is in Europe’.

To date over 2,500 chicken producers have gone out of business. Ahmedou cannot say how long he will be able to carry on. Standing outside his half-empty coops he said: ‘Basically I’m just surviving. I’m in debt and very stressed’.

Onion farmers

During the Global Week of Action Bishop John Hind will be thinking of the onion farmer he met in the River Valley. ‘It was particularly frustrating to hear how he had to throw half of his crop into the river’ he said.

Mr Amadou Oumar Barro stood in his field full of onions and told the delegation: ‘It’s the bitterest experience a farmer can face, having to throw away the product of your work, energy, money and expectations of your family and your whole village’.

The two main reasons for this are the 50,000 metric tonnes of onions coming in from Holland and lack of storage facilities for Senegalese onion farmers.

Another sector where farmers are competing with cheap imports is the tomato industry. Ibrahim Fedior, head of the National Cooperative of Tomato Producers, showed the delegation a big tin of tomatoes.

It bore the name Linguere, an area of Senegal, a woman dressed in the colours of the Senegalese flag and most importantly, the words ‘Made in Senegal’. In fact, the tomatoes were made in China and imported by a Lebanese company in Dakar.

Trade coordinator for the African Network for Integrated Development (RADI), Mignane Diouf, will be presenting this to the Trade Minister of Senegal during the Global Week of Action.

He will be asking him why these tins can enter the country when tomatoes grown by Senegalese farmers are rotting on the roadsides.

RADI, a Christian Aid partner, is also organising a ‘sit in’ in parliament involving chickens, onions, rice and tomatoes. Mignane Diouf said: ‘For the Global Week of Action we want organisations across Senegal to come together to put the issues of unfair trade on the table.

We want everyone to better understand the impact of unfair trade so that something can be done about it’.

• Global Week of Action