Until the African nations organise themselves and find a way to market their own products on the world market, this exploitation will always be a problem for them.
Michael Dennis , USA

Just two of the comments Talking Point received. Read more below.

Background ¦ Your reaction

The Background:

In recent weeks Kenya's small coffee producers have been rebelling against what they see as the inefficiency and corruption of the large co-operatives that buy their beans.

There have been clashes in the district of Nyeri in central province and groups of farmers have even taken over coffee factories.

The producers claim they have not been getting a fair price for their produce and have cited the large differential between the price they receive for their coffee and the international market. Supporters of African farmers say this is typical of the way people in the agricultural sector are exploited by bureaucrats, businessmen and politicians across the continent.

They claim the sweat of the farmers is making city big men fat and rich. Critics say farmers have little to complain about and it is not feasible for them to ever be given any close to commodity price as quoted on international markets as many other costs have to be factored in after they've harvested their crops.

In some countries, for example the Ivory Coast where the first President Felix Houphouet Boigny was a leading cocoa producer, farmers are also seen as privileged due to their traditional relationships with powerful leaders and ruling parties.

So what do you think? Are farmers being exploited and ripped off? Are they finding things more difficult these days than people living and working in urban areas? Or is there not much for them to complain about?

Background ¦ Your reaction

Your Reaction:

I think the African leaders are responsible for what ever happen to their farmers.
Abdirizak Adan, Denmark

Yes - it is sickening to see the disparity between workers in Kenya slaving for less than £1 per day, and the executives driving around Nairobi in large 4x4s.
Jon Stone, England

This is nothing new about Africa, from the first time Europe made contact with Africa it has exploitations, one after another. We got exploited of our most precious resources namely able bodied young Africans only to be used for free labour in all parts of world, then we got exploited by fragmenting Africa into inconceivable divisions without Africans' presence. Then all the natural resources got stolen to develop Western countries, and now Africa is being used for raw materials, the cheapest they can get.
Do they have any conscience? Do they believe in any GOD? Shell company has been polluting the land of Nigeria for sometime without any respect for Nigeria and specifically the Ogoni people whose Great son Ken Sarawewa was killed. Do they have any conscience?
Max, Gambia

I believe if the world market would open up to allow more African products, this would have a big impact of farmers in African countries. A huge country like the US especially ought to promote such agricultural initiatives to promote Africa's development rather having the foreign Aid policy trend that has done little in changing society in Africa.
Kenneth Keno, Kenya

Africans must solve their problems themselves.
Omar Hassan, Sweden

It is unquestionable that the African farmers are being ripped off by their masters in particular. Take the case of Ethiopia in which the coffee market covers the largest income of the government. From the past to the present coffee was/is doing only for the authorities and their relatives whereas the farmers are leading a dog's life. They even couldn't feed themselves and suffer from starvation from time to time. In Ethiopia coffee grows in Oromia region. The life of large number of the farmer's population in the region is deteriorating while the minorities in Finfinnee/Addis/ are lead luxurious life at the expense of the poor ones. What an unfair world! Something has to be done.
Simie, Oromia in Ethiopia

I do not think that African leaders realise the consequences of being ripped off by the western world. A lot of illegal activities are going on in that continent which are just going unchecked. The problem with African leaders is that they cannot see beyond their noses. They have gone to the western world, they have seen how resources are managed but they never apply those methods to their respective countries.
How long will Africa be exploited by the western world? How many more years will Africans bear encroachment by the so-called experts. Until the resources are completely depleted, Africa will never understand the values of our resources and how we should manage those resources ourselves. It is really a shame to have the richest continent it in the world to have the highest population of poor people.
Alfred S. Sesay, Unites States of America

How about buying some Fair Trade coffee instead of wittering on ineffectually on the Internet? Much more to the point, no?
CF, Canada

The African farmers are being ripped off by their own people. Leave the other nations out of this argument.
Terri, Singapore

Definitely, but by whom? Start with their own corrupt governments. Then add the hard-nosed multinational. You then have a formidable partnership working at the expense of the poor, perhaps undereducated, African farmer. The UN Human Rights Commission ought to look at this situation!!
Ed Edet, USA(Nigerian)

African farmers are exploited first and foremost by their own governments. That is the case in all developing countries. No amount of hand-wringing, nor apologising, nor enormous donations by the west can ever change this hard fact: third world countries have governments who care less for their own people than any colonialist ever did, and will exploit them mercilessly for as long as they possibly can.
D H Wilson, UK/Brazil

In my opinion, there should first and foremost be stability in the continent. Then we can talk about the African farmers and if they are being ripped off. With the exception of some countries, the whole continent is in disarray. When every fertile land is infested with mines, when every government is more interested on its staying on power than being concerned about the benefit of the people and when countries are fighting for more than a year half for no reason (Ethiopia and Eritrea), what can the farmers produce?
Selam Yewrdelna, Sweden

Sadly, Africa as a whole seems to be much worse off than it should be. The west should commit to bringing modern labour practices to Africa, seeing as it expended so much energy in selling western farming equipment. One first step that can be taken by all is to lobby governments to cancel the debt the governments of the poor African nations owe - that would at least afford the local governments a chance to help their own.
Michael Hannon, Canada

As long as Africa does not form some form of African common market based on the likes of the EEC, there are slight chances for the African nations to command premium prices based on demand pull policies. The lack of an organised common front has long hampered progress in this direction. Although steps have been implemented in this direction through the establishment of common fronts like the SADAC and Western African states trading blocks some well co-ordinated central policy has yet to be reached whereby overall centrally planned economic strategy can be implemented more tuned to the problems facing the common farmers in their respective countries.
Meewoor, Mauritius

The farmers who produce are (relatively) small in scale and have little choice over to whom they can sell. The buying organisations are (relatively) large and have much choice over from whom they buy. No prizes for guessing the end result.
Mick, UK

Low prices for produce forces already poor farmers to grow more crops, which involves clearing more land and intensive use of chemical fertilisers - ripping off farmers therefore also causes environmental degradation.
Valerie Horlick, UK

Farmers in Zimbabwe are ripped off- eg the cotton farmers are paid for the cotton in Zim dollars - whilst the monopolist cotton company of Zimbabwe charges for cotton lint in us dollars- irrespective of who they are selling to, local or export. How can an African country export value added products when you have a monopoly controlling a primary raw material-and which hinders the spinners, the textile mills and the clothing manufacturers
James Chando, Zimbabwe

Lets face it, of course the western world is ripping off African Farmers, after all, they are ripping off their OWN farmers, so African farmers are even worse off...
Cecil Ashitey, England

Majority of African nations are an Agricultural society - still using farm animals for food production. So it is rather pointless to even ask if African farmers are being ripped off - I mean can they stand a chance? Let's not compare apples and potatoes.
Ermias , Ethiopian/USA

Of course they are. Africa has always been seen as a place to exploit, from the labour of its people to the fruit of its land. In the post-colonial era the tradition continues as multinational food companies use their significant economic power to advantage themselves at the expense of the poor farmer. But it doesn't stop there as the sons and daughters of the colonial era emulate their former masters in the art of the rip-off and its enforcement. Add to this the corruption, nepotism, cronyism and incompetence of key individuals in key institutions and the picture becomes bleaker. And then, of course, there is always the problems created by inadequate resources, crippling foreign debt, the AIDS pandemic and countless civil wars and coups. Yes, the African farmer is being ripped off on all sides.
Jack Crowther, Australia

The farmers are getting ripped off because of leaders. The leaders are who ripping off African farmers and selling their goods for cheap to the outside world. Until every farmer is educated this type of action will continue.
Sawa Senafi, USA

Yes, African farmers are being ripped off, but by who? Sad to say, but mostly by their own governments. When one compares the world prices of cocoa, coffee etc to the prices paid to the farmers by the governments, it is indeed pathetic. In Ghana, for instance, this led to the formation of the NLM in 1954 under the colonialists, but not much has been done to change the situation. All this cheating by the governments would have been somewhat bearable if the rural areas[where the produce comes from] had had proper development going on. But the producers of our agricultural foreign exchange earnings receive the worst deal when it comes to lighting, roads and other basic comforts that urban dwellers tend to take for granted. Yet we build new, expensive capitals, stockpile expensive arms buy flashy expensive ministerial cars and new jets etc. This is simply ridiculous!! Maybe we need to examine our own consciences first before rushing to lay all blame at the feet of the long departed colonial masters.
Rodney Nkrumah-Boateng, United Kingdom

Ripped off, I thought even the blind can see that African Farmers are not only ripped off they are constantly raped by those who supply the farm inputs. How can any one survive the commodity market? The price of the products are determined by those who fix the price for the inputs. How fair can that be? When will African Farmers have a peasant Network that will deal with their own problems and more exchange happen between them. The salvation of the African Farmer does not lie with the western world BUT with ourselves. Let Farmers of Africa UNITE!!!
Kole, Ithaca,NY,USA

Ripping off of Third World Farmers has been going on for years. But if you feel strongly about it, the thing to do is to boycott the big brands of coffee, etc. and buy from ethical companies like Traidcraft who actually guarantee these farmers a fair price for their crops.
Martin Davies, UK

The African farmers whom lack of expertise, bargain power, technology and unstable political background will be always ripped off. They need to 'group' themselves and start to plan for their future and try to reduce the ripping case.
Moh, Malaysia

I do believe that African farmers are exploited, as are those in the other less prosperous regions of the world. We appear to have travelled full circle to the early days of the erstwhile East India Company when corporations exploited nations of inferior economic power. However, so long as we in the West continue to demand produce at the lowest possible price, the situation is unlikely to change. More publicity needs to be given to the substantial margins between the producers' and retailers' prices. Attitudes might then change, as seems to be happening with the increasing attention that has been given to plight of farmers in the prosperous UK.
Chris Klein, UK

Until Africa as a whole gets its political act together, its economic and social programs will remain corrupt continue to reflect the general ineptness of its leaders. While absolutely not advocating a return to any type of colonialism, I'm afraid most African nations need to be made wards of the United Nations to get cleaned up. (I lived in Sudan and Somalia some years ago.)
Mark M. Newdick, USA/UK

African farmers are being ripped off. They have few rights, and those which they do have are being diminished by the World Trade Organisation, which is merely a vessel to legitimise the bully boy tactics used by big business. It is not only Africans who are screwed by the WTO, but all of us. The WTO and the corporations who own it are gradually eroding our ability to choose and the say that our governments have in what type of goods we accept for import, i.e. American hormone fed beef and GM Soya.
Colonialism by countries is long gone, now corporations are the colonialists, and the WTO, instead of protecting people and improving their lives as it claims is its aim, is using its influence to marginalise the opinions of the poor.
Ben Synnock, UK

I certainly agree that farmers are ripped-off. The governments are the real culprits, because they appoint people who are poorly trained for highly managerial jobs resulting in major manipulation by the politicians and those close to corridors of power. A good example is the K.C.C of Kenya.
Benn Cheum, Canada

I agree that African farmers are been ripped off. We need to protect our own products by letting the world know the value of our goods, possibly form an African trade union to monitor all the farm products from Africa.
Timothy Ogbu, Currently in USA

Of course they are being ripped off. As a producer of two other commodities, corn and soybeans, I am being ripped off. At this point in time in history ALL producers of commodities and food stuffs are being ripped off by processors and wholesalers of consumer food products.
Herb Schreur, USA

If the AFRICANS had GOD FEARING governments their FARMERS would have fed every single mouth in the whole continent, but reality is not that...The FOOD that is produced by the FARMERS are quickly shipped to other countries while the LOCALS die in the streets and even the farmers themselves. This is all to do with CORRUPTION and CHEATING by the GOVERNMENT officials, who only cared about themselves...
There's no doubt that AFRICA has the GREATEST NATURAL RESOURCES to feed itself and make a better living for their citizens but all that things are swept away by UNEDUCATED, UN-RELIGIOUS, UNFAIR government officials_One thing every AFRICAN has to stop is BLAMING ON THE WEST for AFRICA'S problems ...Tell me who wouldn't STEAL from a guy sleeping with gold all over him?...My point is do not blame the WEST, his just playing the SMART game with you,by sleeping he would steal from you_And that's the GAME of life
Prince, Living in the States, but SOMALIAN

I think this is part of a much greater problem of world-wide economic injustice. One third of people live in affluence. Two thirds live in poverty and squalor. I think that this story is one more example of the rich nations exploiting the poor.
Jeff Fallis, USA

The Kenyan farmers action taking action against those big boys must be seen as a new revolution to those poor farmers who has been cheated and ripped off for years. In Ethiopia we have the same situation like that of Kenya, our farmers have been and are still encountering a hard time to improve their living conditions, that is without any basic human necessities. They are always misinformed about the market value of their products.
For anyone who has seen the living condition of these poor farmers it is quite clear to see the unfairness of those big coffee export companies where most of them are privately owned. The greed to make too much profit on this poor people's labour is sickening. The unfairness of the whole thing is best seen when one goes to Addis Ababa and sees the living conditions of those big boys, where they live in one of the best suburb in the city with a house that is four, three stories high and flashy brand new cars that are parked in the drive way.
Abey Wonderad, Awassa, Ethiopia

The African farmers will continue to be ripped off whilst those of us in rich countries refuse to part with any more of our hard-earned readies than we have to, and lets face it, how many people will truly be up for that? (Does the phrase "human nature" ring any bells?)
What we have to realise is that we live in a global economy pretty much run by the global companies. Within a country like ours taxes from the rich help redistribute income to the poor (in terms of benefits). Why can't this work on a global scale where a global tax on the big multinationals would force them to pay money which could be used to subsidise farmers?
Nick Manville, UK

African farmers are not exploited, or ripped of by the consumer that buys their farm products. In my opinion the biggest problem that are associated with African farmers ordeal is that their lack of information and free farmers union that enforce farm product values according to the market and the demand.
In Ethiopia almost 80% of the total population are substance farmers, this farmers are living in scattered environment without access to markets and other important venues such as road. The problem is they are not organised to form a union that can address their ordeal to the Government.
Mengitu Lema, Nazereth, Ethiopia

Of course they are! Farmers all over the world are being exploited by massive companies who care only about their own profits and not that of the growers.
Art O'Rangutan, USA

The rural population of virtually every country has been ruthlessly exploited and repressed by the urban elite that dominate the central governments. This is what has led to a massive migration from the countryside to the city in so many African nations, where the new city-dwellers join masses of urban poor.
Rath Andor, USA

African farmers will not be fully compensated for their hard work as long as production remains essentially manual. Farmers should be compensated by their local governments through subsidiary programs.
Thierno Bah, USA

I don't think the farmers are being ripped off. Handling and shipping costs can add a lot to the price of any commodity.
Richard T. Ketchum, USA

I was talking to my mother just last Saturday on the phone. She told me the coffee farmers have not paid for a long time and she does not know whom to turn to. The co-op' are corrupt the government does not help the farmers. There is no accountability. Its sad, the amount of time spent on these farms and fertilising the crop! Someone is pocketing the money somewhere. A few years ago some farmers planted food crops in the coffee farms because of this problem.
Alfred Mangu, USA

Africans have been screwed by everyone now they are being done by their fellow Africans, which is the saddest thing. A bit like 'Animal Farm'. Another irony is that most of them accept it because they understand that if they were in the position of their leaders they would do the same.
R. Karim, UK

Of course African farmers are getting ripped off. How can they compete with the subsidies paid in the north? How can they be paid sufficiently when their crops have to be exported in order to pay off the crippling debt burden of Africa. When you in the north have finished poisoning your land and your water you will come and beg us for healthy food. We will remember colonialism and neo-colonialism. Our time in the sun is coming.
Glenn Ashton, South Africa

African farmers are always being ripped off. But the reason that they are is NOT because of the African "power men". It is because of you and me who like a nice cup of coffee in the morning at a cheap price. The Kenyan coffee beans are sold to Western multi-nationals who put their profit before anything else. If we all buy fair trade produce then African farmers will get a fair deal.
Hugh Acland, UK

Of course African farmers are exploited and have been for a long time. The system is thoroughly weighted against him. The only way the African farmer can wring the maximum benefit out of the product of his own labour, is to increase his bargaining power vis-à-vis those who would throw crumbs at him. He needs to wrest control of the transportation and marketing of his product. Singly, he is totally at the mercy of the other actors in the production and distribution chain. He needs to organise into as strong co-operatives as possible. The co-operatives should really be producer-driven and not left in the hands of a managerial elite that soon calls the shots at the expense of the producers. Strong farmer co-operatives would also allow the farmer to exert increased influence on government policy and tilt this a little bit more to the centre away from programmes that favour the urbanised elite over the honest, hardworking son of the soil.
Gendanyoye, Switzerland

Firstly, in most African countries, the people are brought up in an environment where they learn to accept the conditions they live in, if this continues, then they will carry on being exploited, mainly by the corrupt people of power, who can only continue there unjust working conditions, only if the people continue to accept these conditions.
Shahid Khan, United Kingdom

Are African farmers being ripped off?

Final Votes:

100% 0%			>		>
			Yes: <% =percentyes %>%		No: <% =percentno %>%