Globalization: US, EU subsidies keep Africa poor?

BAMAKO (Reuters) - A delegation of U.S. cotton farmers visiting West Africa said Washington's multi-billion dollar subsidies to its cotton industry were worsening hardship in the world's poorest region.

During a trip to Mali, West Africa's largest cotton producer, the group of farmers from California, Illinois, Vermont and Kansas witnessed conditions in one of the world' poorest countries....

Francois Traore, president of the cotton growers association in neighboring Burkina Faso, noted that while there were only 25,000 cotton growers in the United States, there were between 15 and 20 million people in Africa dependent on the crop.

"We want the African farmer to be able to live from his work. The American farmer also lives from his work, but to the detriment of others," he said.

The European union is just as bad, but not covered by this article...just another question of how globalization will lower trade barriers to help poor countries...
Of course, one can argue that unicultivation of one crop whose prices rise and fall is not a good strategy for Africa...