Something's rotten in the house

It's ironic isn't it, and more than just a tad sad, that while thousands now live below the poverty line, unable to sustain a healthy diet because of skyrocketing food prices, that Europe alone produces food enough to keep entire third world populations alive. What's downright shameful in this picture is that tons of surplus agricultural produce is thrown away daily. Just like that.

So while the coffee farmer in Ethiopia cannot eat properly because his crops do not bring a big enough profit, governments in Europe silently allow for the gross practise of enormous amounts of nourishing foodstuffs being dumped - all in the name of maintaining price levels that make it possible for European farmers to stay in business.

After all, whether we like it or not, the economic laws in operation dictate that if you offer too many tons of tomatoes to the customers, prices may plummet, leaving the farmers with huge sales and too little income. And, in a complex world like ours, simple solutions just won't do either of us much good:   shipping surplus tomaoes to the coffee farmer in Ethiopia at cheap, subsidized prices isn't a tenable solution. Who would pay for such a - on the face of things - benign and compassion-driven measure? The governments of Europe certainly wouldn't, as they have enough problems on their own hands these days.

So what to do, except wringe your hand in frustration, helplessly watching more people go down the drain? I don't know, really. I wish I knew how to turn the situation upside down. I wish I knew how to aid the Ethiopian coffee farmer without leaving his European colleague, the tomatoe grower, in equally dire straits.

I guess one thing I can do is purchasing his coffee, provided it's certified fairtrade. Because I do think it's disgraceful that western wholesalers - on behalf of the consumers - offer the third world farmers next to nothing just to ensure that consumers in the West will continue buying their products. Seldom do we contemplate the fact that in order for products to remain as cheap as we want them, someone has to bleed and sweat to put the goods on our tables. 

And that someone is the e.g the coffee farmer in Ethiopia, who, after having successfully sold off his crops to the international trading agent, must repeat the humiliating ritual called a breakfast: downing a dozen of coffee beans and a cup of water.