Experts address the question: “In your view, do agricultural subsidies in developed countries benefit or harm the majority of the poor in developing countries?”

S ubsidized agricultural exports to developing countries and, worse, food aid kill the output markets of smallholders there, who encompass the majority of the world’s poor. Especially in sub-Saharan Africa, this unfair competition, together with blatant neglect of agriculture in public policy, hampers agricultural growth. Throughout history, agricultural growth has been the engine of overall economic growth. As such, subsidies and public support to agriculture make a lot of sense. In today’s highand middle-income countries, such support was vital for agricultural growth, which, in its turn, triggered growth in other sectors. Stagnating growth and poverty are the other side of the same coin. Therefore, poor countries should set stiff tariffs for agricultural imports and refuse food aid in kind. This would yield better prices and stimulate their own agricultural production. Import tariffs and aid in cash would provide revenue to enable governments to support smallholder agriculture and agrarian reform. As agriculture is a mode of production of many competitors, there is no risk of inefficient state-protected monopolies as in industrial protection. Thus, import tariffs would allow sharing of the benefits of developed countries’ agricultural subsidies enabling a pattern of economic growth that eradicates poverty.