Ecology and development policy

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Objective of the feasibility study

If cotton is grown as a monoculture, the soil may rapidly be leached out and lose its fertility. This can make large areas of formerly fertile arable land completely useless for farming, not least as a result of inappropriate use of chemicals, so that they can no longer be used for growing basic food.

Cotton is grown without artificial irrigation in Africa, due to poverty, lack of infrastructure and the scarcity of water resources. That makes it all the more important to use rainfall water efficiently. The Cotton made in Africa aims to promote efficient farm management by providing advice - key techniques include mulching to keep the soil covered and thus prevent high evaporation rates, and balanced fertilisation.

Appropriate use of pesticides is equally important, where possible applying the principles of integrated farming - in other words not using pesticides on a preventative basis, but only where certain damage thresholds are exceeded. No other useful crop is treated with agro-poisons and fertilizers as intensively as is "white gold", because there is practically no plant which is as attractive to pests and pathogens as cotton. The fact that it is grown almost exclusively as a monoculture further increases the pest problem.

It happens all too often that small farmers sacrifice their health and their environment as a result of dependence on pesticides. And it is not unusual for them to get caught in the debt trap - the farmers take out a loan to buy the products, which are expensive for them. They have to pay back their debts with their earnings from the crop. But if there is a poor crop, or if world market prices are low, that is often not possible, and the debts pile up. Here, too, it may help if they can get away from intensive use of agro-chemicals. The Cotton made in Africa project gives the farmers appropriate training in facilities such as "Farmer Field Schools".

Development significance

Africa is the world's second largest cotton exporter, following the United States. In the Sahel States at the southern edge of the Sahara alone, export income is $1.5 billion per annum, which is almost as much as the official development aid for this region, that is $2 billion per annum.

The contribution of cotton to combating poverty in Africa could be very much greater under different conditions. That could be achieved by improved growth conditions, a demand surge for African cotton on the part of big retailers from the industrialised countries, and by a more efficient and transparent international value chain. That would create access to conditions of partnership, and at the same time would improve the social and environmental standards of the cotton chain, by practical assistance and by training of the producers. Establishing these conditions is a matter for the cotton companies, and at the same time it depends on support from the large number of small-scale farmers.

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