African nations fear U.S. cotton subsidy backslide

Washington's proposed farm policy overhaul threatens to worsen the plight of Africa's cotton farmers by providing fresh assistance to U.S. producers, African ministers said on Friday.

Speaking after a two-day World Trade Organization (WTO) meeting on cotton, representatives of cotton producers said they believed the 2007 farm bill -- an umbrella law that will set most U.S. agriculture policy for five years -- could boost aid to American cotton farmers by up to 66 percent.