The EU’s agricultural policy and its effect on food security and small-scale farming : A comparative study on the impacts of the CAP in Africa and Latin America

Abstract: This study examines and problematises how the European Union's agricultural policy impact small-scale farming and food security in developing countries. The focus of the study is on the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) and how this EU policy affects small-scale farming and food security with Argentina, Brazil, Mozambique and Uganda as case examples. The CAP has affected the agricultural sectors in developing countries negatively since its launch, with particularly damaging effects on small-scale farmers. This problem is theoretically framed within a political ecology approach, backed up by environmental justice and a food sovereignty approach. The results are found using a qualitative comparative literature study, and critical reading is used to analyse previous research and EU reports. Based on the previous research and the theoretical framework the study concludes that Argentina, Brazil, Mozambique and Uganda have all experienced some extent of negative impacts of the EU’s agricultural policy. The tariffs and subsidies from the EU policy have affected the countries in different ways, resulting in mostly negative impacts on small-scale farming and food security.