pinheiro wrote: Why United States the so-called free market economy powerhouse/the world superpower gives subsidies to its farmers? Are these subsidies found/grown in US farms too? http://farm.ewg.org/region.php?fips=00000
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Folks, It is not only the US that gives subsidies to its farmers. Japan does the same for its rice growers and nearly every country in the EU has large subsidy programs for their farmers. The bottom line is that because of the subsidies, it becomes almost impossible for a farmer in the developing world, who earns $4 A DAY, to compete against his counterpart from the developed world where the minimum wage for farm hands is $4 PER HOUR. As for Goa's fields, I recently spoke to some land owners in my ancestral village. They have been unable to cultivated their rice fields for a number of years now. Their explanation is always the same. There is a sever shortage of labour as no one wants to work in the fields after they are educated. As a former farm labourer, I can assure all here that farm work is back breaking and the sure path to poverty. Real economic progress comes from industrialisation. Green/golden rice fields should remain only in the realms of nostalgics and dreamers. Lastly, the economies of India and China remained stagnant when the central planers focused on the activities of peasants and farmers. Thankfully those in power today, in both countries, are directing their energies into sectors other than agriculture. Mervyn1389Lobo .