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Marrakech Process Task Force on Cooperation with Africa Cotton Made in Africa

Africa is the world’s second-largest cotton exporter, but domestic production has faltered amid weather, currency and other pressures, forcing an expected drop in exports in some countries for the first time in years.

However, some farmers are finding a way around such challenges. The Task Force on Cooperation with Africa has documented an innovative pilot project unfolding in four African nations – Burkina Faso, Benin Zambia and Mozambique – in its report describing best practices for achieving sustainable consumption and production.

The Cotton made in Africa project offers a model of how farmers are using sustainable production techniques to improve their crops in the hope of penetrating global markets. The goal is to introduce ecological and social standards into cotton growing and, by doing so, generate demand among big retailers for a “Cotton made in Africa” brand.

Cotton in the sub-Saharan region thrives on natural rainfall, eliminating the need for artificial irrigation, which diverts precious water resources from other growing areas and causes major environmental damage. It is picked by hand and has long fibers, which makes it a naturally high-quality raw material.

The crop is a main source of income for some 20 million people in the region, and accounts for the lion’s share of export revenue in several countries. In Benin alone, cotton cultivation employs 2.4 million people – 40 per cent of the population – and brings in 75 per cent of export earnings.*

To participate in the project, farmers must cultivate their fields using guidelines to meet social, ecological and economic criteria, which prohibit, for example, the use of child slave labour or internationally banned pesticides.

The project currently involves about 150,000 farmers who pick 100,000 tonnes of raw cotton a year. Their output is spun into yarn and eventually sent to international trading companies, which sell it on the free market to retailers and others.

Within that value chain, companies such as Geneva-based trading giant Dunavant SA play a pivotal role, explains Christian Lowe, an official with the Germany-based technical agency GTZ. Because they distribute and pre-finance agrochemicals such as pesticides and fertilizers, they can exert some control over how they are used.

Through their extension services, these companies train “lead” farmers to use the products in a sustainable manner, ensuring, for example, that pesticides are used only where damage thresholds have been exceeded. Techniques, such as balanced fertilization, and mulching to prevent water evaporation in soil, are also passed on. The farmers then train other farmers in their villages and regions to multiply the effect.

The hope is that such transparency will turn the heads of the world’s high flying buyers. German retailing giant Otto Group is involved in the project and using its clout to convince other big retailers of the project’s value, and boost demand in European markets. While the cotton produced does not yet qualify as organic cotton, the moves may one day help more African countries to tap the organic buying frenzy.

The Organic Exchange, which tracks organic cotton use, estimates that global retail sales for organic cotton products will reach $3.5 billion in 2008, up from $1.1 billion last year, as retailers make significant new commitments to sustainable textile and apparel production. By 2010, sales are expected to hit $6.8 billion, up from 2005 sales of $583 million.


* Cooperation with Africa: Best Practice in African Countries report