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Hungry livestock keepersin millions, 2010FAO+3.7517 12+0.41170-2.05+3.35Eastern Europeand Central Asia+4.6223 13106258+0.8950East Asia7105-1.4228-1.4810219160Middle Eastand NorthAfricaof which India328of which ChinaCentral andSouth AmericaSub-SaharanAfrica150South Asiabelow the national povertyline for rural areasunder 2 dollars/dayannual change in poor livestockkeepers, 2000–2010, in percentMEAT ATLASla, there were no subsidies for exports of poultrymeat to Africa. Some EU subsidies contribute toprice dumping, such as the area subsidies for feedproduction in Europe, or support programmes fornew farm buildings. But they are less significantin poultry production than in other agriculturalsectors. The trigger was mad cow disease, or bovinespongiform encephalopathy (BSE). Becauseof the BSE epidemic, the EU restricted the use ofmeat and bone meal as animal feed from 1996 on,and eventually banned it altogether. That is whatled to the export boom. In Europe, different partsof a chicken have different levels of profitability.Breast fillets are so profitable that they financeall the other parts of the bird, including the legsand wings. For the producer, if it is not breast, it iswaste. The feed industry used to take all this protein-richmaterial and use it to make feed. The baneliminated the market for these by-products, andproducers were even faced with having to destroythem at their own expense.But now they suddenly have new customers.Exporters snap up these chicken pieces at a verylow price, frozen, straight from the slaughterhouse,and eminently suitable for human consumption.After covering the cost of shipping toWest Africa, they can be sold for two-thirds lessthan the locally raised chickens. The local producershave no way to compete. The wholesale pricesof imported chicken pieces are so low in Accra orMonrovia, that they would cover only half theirproduction costs back in Europe. So far, no developingcountry has managed to impose a banon such dumping practices through the WorldTrade Organization.“Fragile” states such as Liberia, Congo andSierra Leone have only just begun investingin their agriculture as they recover from civilwar. But they are not investing in animal husbandry,because of the cheap imports fromEurope. Some countries, such as Cameroon, Senegaland Nigeria, have been successful in restrictingimports. However, this has attracted smugglerswho, in week-long transports, obtain EUchicken parts from neighbouring countries suchas Benin. In areas where the imports have not yetpenetrated, poultry is a stable source of incomefor many small farmers, especially women. But inGhana and Benin, the broiler industry has all butdied out.Chickenbreasts are soprofitable that therest of the meatis worthless45