Research

Up in Smoke? Asia and the Pacific

The fifth report from the Working Group on Climate Change and Development.

Shut Out

How US farm programs fail minority farmers

Impacts of Reductions in US Cotton Subsidies on West African Cotton Producers

One of the first studies of its kind after the US reformed a controversial export subsidy program called “Step 2,” Paying the Price estimates how much farmer incomes in West Africa could increase after further subsidy reform, and what these gains would mean in practical terms for a typical West African cotton farming household.

The report confirms that substantial reform of American cotton subsidies in the 2007 Farm Bill could lead to increased income to feed an additional million children for a year or pay school fees for at least two million children living in poor West African cotton-growing households.

How Does the USDA Farm Bill Proposal Measure Up?

On January 31, US Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns announced a proposed revision of the current Farm Bill, which could result in a decrease of the most trade-distorting forms of domestic support.

Overall, the proposal would spend an estimated US$10 billion less over the next 10 years than projected spending for the 2002 Farm Bill, which is set to expire in September 2007. Much of the anticipated savings are from expected high prices for many commodities in future years. However, the Johanns proposal actually would spend US$5 billion more from 2008 – 2012 than simply extending the existing provisions in the 2002 Farm Bill.

Download the attached file to read the full text of this report by Oxfam America employee Emily Alpert. (From Bridges No. 1, February-March 2007, published by the International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development.)

Between Hope and Fear in Northern Uganda

Challenges on the ground and an urgent need for peace

Understanding the Effect of the Tsunami and its Aftermath on Vulnerability to HIV in Coastal India

A tsunami research journal article