On the Track of the Subsidies

Director: Marian Mide
Producer: Poul-Erik Heilbuth
Produced by: DR
Duration: 4 x 30 min.
Year of Production: 2004
Original Title: On the Track of the Subsidies

When accounting for the victims of the EU's agricultural policy, a dilemma becomes crystal clear. On the one hand, the EU and the European countries have made the world’s largest contribution for the purpose of helping the poor out of their misery. On the other hand, the World Bank, the IMF, and a number of UN organisations agree that tariff barriers, dumping, and quotas pull much more money out of the developing countries.

On the Track of the Subsidies asks: what price does the poor sugar farmer in South Africa or the dairy producer in The Dominican Republic pay to protect the rich farmers in the EU?

The four-part documentary series takes the viewers on a journey aruond the world to answer such questions − to the Dominican Republic, South Africa, Ghana, and Senegal.

The four programmes include the following:

Milk in the Dominican Republic 1:4
Thousands of miles from Brussels, Emmanuel Santana drives his small herd of cows into the stables. Most of us probably think that this poor farmer from a remote province of the Dominican Republic, can keep his three cows without a single thought of what Europeans might come up with to secure their own farmers.
But he knows only too well the cans of powdered milk from Europe. They have taken over the shelves in the local general store, and forced his farm onto its knees. He even nicknamed the cans: vaca conquistadora - the cow that conquers. Due to support from the EU, powdered milk is sold at such  cheap prices that 20,000 farmers have been forced from their farms in one of the poorest countries in Central America.

South Africa and the White Gold  2:4
Dennis Mzoneli and his family are independent sugar farmers in one of the poorer parts of South Africa. Their lives and the lives of those in their village depend on sugar. However, with world market prices far below the actual production costs, these sugar farmers are not exactly living the sweet life.
The reasons behind Dennis Mzoneli’s problems can be found in European price regulations, import restrictions and export subsidies. As a result of these, EU sugar is sold at an unrealistically low world market price - less than € 0,13 per kilo, although the actual production costs are much, much higher.

Ghana – a Country Without a Future? 3:4
A tomato processing plant sits idle in Ghana – here, Italian tomato paste has won the battle.

During the eighties, the country was ”persuaded” that it would make sense to dismantle its tariff measures, and its agricultural support measures. Poor farmers and industrial workers were to become part of the global free trade system. Ever since, the local production has gone down – they can’t compete against the cheap subsidised products from Europe.

To the poor in Ghana, this is not about access to the promised land of the European market. Not at all. It is all about being left alone.

Senegal and the New Trade Barriers  4:4
New trade barriers are developing as fast as the old ones are being phased out. When the counties in Africa want to export peanuts, bananas, or beef to the EU, they are faced with standards (e.g. for hygiene) that affect their export. In the end, these lost opportunities will cost lives.

In Europe we have incredibly high standards for our food products, but do we realize the serious consequences for developing countries?