A NORTH Yorkshire farmer found he had a lot in common with his West African counterparts following a ten-day visit to exchange ideas.

Edward Dennison, who is North Riding and Durham County chairman of the National Farmers' Union, travelled to Burkina Faso, West Africa as part of a Christian Aid trip to share experiences and advice, and learn about problems faced by African farmers.

Mr Dennison, who farms 550 acres at Thornton-le-Beans and 250 at Scruton, near Northallerton, is also a Methodist preacher and heard about the trip through the Northallerton branch of Christian Aid.

"It was a real eye-opener," said Mr Dennison, 58. "I was surprised that the problems faced by farmers around the world seem to be very similar."

Mr Dennison was one of a dozen people to take part in the trip from March 6-15, along with a camera crew, interpreter and three other North-East farmers, Keith Scott from West Bingfield, near Corbridge, George Little, from Wooley Burnfoot, near Allendale and Richard Hunter from Northumberland.

During the visit the group spent several nights staying in mud huts in the African farmers' village near Groom-Groom, where they were invited to learn about the communal farming methods, and accompany farmers as they sold cattle and took animals to the watering holes.

"We talked to them a lot and found that the farmers were facing problems with climate, current exchange and cheap imports, which are exactly the same things that cause difficulties for us in England," said Mr Dennison. "It is on a very different scale though. To us it's a question of trying to make a profit, but to them it's a question of life and death."

Mr Dennison said that the group was impressed by the level of co-operation shown by farmers in the village. He said that while each farmer has his own cattle, there were no hedges or fences to divide up space, and the land to be farmed was one large area.

"They are centuries behind us," said Mr Dennison. "Many of the problems may be fundamentally similar, but their farming techniques and finance system is very different.

"The land is farmed by hand and cattle are used as currency. They have no real banking system and they only sell cattle when they need money."

He said that many problems faced by the farmers were long-term and deeply ingrained in the lifestyles and culture.

"Free trade alone won't solve the problems of the Third World," said Mr Dennison. "It's a very slow process but we really need to help them alter the farming culture so it can become more viable. They aren't businessmen and they are struggling. Their young people also need to be looking towards education rather than farming, because the majority of them will need to find alternative employment."

North-East Christian Aid co-ordinator Michael Faulkner, who organised the trip said: "It can be hard to talk about the needs of poor farmers overseas when local farmers are struggling too. This trip aimed to show that all small farmers have a lot in common. They are not in competition with each other.

"Farmers worldwide have to face powerful economic forces and systems that can be very hard to cope with. Their lives are a million miles apart in many ways but they are all affected by agricultural policies set in the developed world."

For information on the Trade Justice Campaign to help Third World countries visit www.christianaid.org.uk/campaign