The recurring question

Oil, an opportunity for economic development or a curse for African countries? That question is the subject of a recent radio panel on RFI (Radio France Internationale). It’s a two-part feature, in French. One of the invited guests, Gerard Magrin, is a Chad specialist who has written about southern Chad’s transition from cotton fields to oil fields.

You can listen to the discussion here:

C’EST PAS DU VENT 1 14/11/2010 Débat Pétrole

(19:30)

Here’s a link to the second half of the discussion:
http://www.rfi.fr/emission/20101114-2-debat-le-petrole-opportunites-developpement-malediction-pays-africains

Speaking of farming, the subsistence farmers of Chad would have certainly benefited from an end to U.S. subsidies for American cotton farmers. Instead they got oil. That’s “development”. You can read more about how U.S. subsidies hurt African cotton growers in a recent Guardian article, “The Great Cotton Stitch-Up”.

This entry was posted on Thursday, November 18th, 2010 at 9:07 pm.