Cotton producing countries in the world's poorest continent, Africa, are up in arms against US and European subisidies which they claim are not only anti - competitive but ruinous for their economies.

Some of the countries have decided to formally complain to the World Trade Organisation (WTO) to ensure these subsidies are scrapped.

Leading the pack is President Blaise Compaore of Burkina Faso, whose country is one of the leading cotton producers in West Africa and one of the world's poorest countries.

In September, Compaore accused the United States and Europe of "anti-competitive behaviour".

More recently, he said: "Numerous cotton producing countries in west and central Africa are victims of injustice at the hands of the commercial powers, the United States and the European Union, who subsidise their output in flagrant contravention of WTO rules".

In 2002 the United States, a major cotton exporter, provided 3,9-billion dollars (3,5-billion euros) in subsidies to its cotton farmers, three times the amount of aid provided to African countries.

According to the British non-governmental organisation Oxfam, the subsidies cause 300 million dollars in lost income to African farmers each year and scrapping them would boost the price of African cotton by some 25 per cent.

During the 2001-02 season, Mali was the leading cotton producer in west Africa, followed by Burkina Faso, where it was the major export crop and accounting for 60 percent of national revenue.

In Burkina Faso the livelihood of some two million people depends directly on the cotton industry and another two million people are indirectly dependent on the sector.

Sidi Kagnassy, the chief of Mali's Aiglon group, which has interests in cotton, recently denounced the "impoverishment" of Africa's cotton farmers who had been crippled by the subsidies.

"The lifting of US subsidies alone will allow the earnings from cotton to increase by 250-million dollars in western and central African countries," he said.

"This represents about 14 percent of public development aid coming to this area," he said. "This shows up the impact of subsidies on our economies." Mali is west Africa's largest cotton producer with an output of about 500,000 tonnes annually.

To help end this situation, four cotton producers -- Benin, Burkina, Chad and Mali -- last week decided to appeal to the WTO to look into this issue before its next round of negotiations in Mexico, due in September.

Burkina Faso's Trade Minister Benoit Ouattara said the complaint was designed "to correct the injustice and seek further support for the development of the countries", where cotton is a major source of revenue.

French-speaking Africa produces about a million tonnes of cotton yearly and holds 16 percent of the world's market share.

An economist in Abidjan, Ivory Coast's main city and one of the main commercial centres of west Africa, said the region was marginalised at the WTO and would have to make its complaint made through a "lawyer, like France" to have an effect. - Sapa-AFP