Many rich countries protect their farming sectors with generous subsidies. It may be claimed that this policy can benefit countries in which people are starving or malnourished by encouraging farmers to produce more food than can be consumed in their own countries. But the policy is not in the best interests of poorer countries. Poor countries do not want charitable handouts – they want to develop the ability to feed their populations by their own efforts. If the amount spent on the European Commission's Common Agricultural Policy were invested in, say, irrigation schemes, that would transform the agriculture of many impoverished nations. This would surely be a better way to solve the problem of world hunger.