France’s Proposed Tax on Palm Oil Threatens African Farmers

Initiative for Public Policy Analysis, IPPA,the Nigeria-based public policy think tank, has flayed the French Government’s proposed tax on palm oil, which will be detrimental to the businesses African farmers.

The proposed taxes, which is a huge additional tax of 90EUR per tonne and a differential tax for palm oil produced according to rich Western standards, is purposefully discriminatory and would lead to devastating consequences for African farmers of palm oil, and throughout the rest of the developing world.

Director of IPPA, Thompson Ayodele, in a statement said: “The French Government’s proposed tax on palm oil at the behest of rich agricultural interests in Paris is shameful and will undermine small farmers and efforts to alleviate poverty across the African continent.”

“The differential tax proposed by certain EU companies and Western elite Green groups is equally discriminatory. This is a neocolonial attempt by the French to dictate to Africa, and enrich large European companies at the expense of poor African small farmers.”

“Small farmers produce 80 per cent of Nigeria’s palm oil, and they rely on it to feed their families and improve their living conditions. The French tax on palm oil is not only unfair and unjustified, but also illegal under the WTO trade laws and undermines France’s commitment to the UN Millennium Development Goals.”