- Title: BURKINA FASO: Country boosts organic GM cotton to beat crash
- Date: 2nd April 2009
- Summary: BOBO DIOULASSO, BURKINA FASO (RECENT) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF FEMALE COTTON FARMERS IN GORA VILLAGE (SOUNDBITE) (French) ATHANASE YARA, CO-ORDINATOR, AGRO-ECONOMY PROGRAM, NATIONAL UNION OF COTTON PRODUCERS OF BURKINA FASO (UNPCB), SAYING "We think that producing organic cotton has many advantages. First, there's the preservation of soil fertility, and then also it allows a category of person to produce organic cotton and who in their soil can't produce conventional cotton." (SOUNDBITE) (French) ATHANASE YARA, CO-ORDINATOR, AGRO-ECONOMY PROGRAM, NATIONAL UNION OF COTTON PRODUCERS OF BURKINA FASO (UNPCB), SAYING "With the natural products, with the neem seeds that we use in preparation, a pregnant woman can prepare this, a pregnant woman can go into the farms, there's no problem; it's not dangerous for women." VARIOUS OF JULIANA DABIRE, ORGANIC COTTON FARMER (SOUNDBITE) (Dioulla) JULIANA DABIRE, ORGANIC COTTON FARMER, SAYING: "We can't say the money is enough, but I could pay the school fees of my child with this money, and I could even buy a bicycle for my children, thanks to the benefit from organic cotton." VARIOUS OF COTTON FACTORY VARIOUS OF GALINA SOTIROVA, COUNTRY REPRESENTATIVE FOR THE WORLD BANK, IN OUAGADOUGOU (SOUNDBITE) (English) GALINA SOTIROVA, COUNTRY REPRESENTATIVE, WORLD BANK, SAYING "It's a niche [organic cotton]. In Burkina, it's a niche. I mean when more than 60 per cent of your population depends on cotton, the objective is to get the productivity high and to gain as much income as possible from exports of cotton." VARIOUS OF MEN ON TRUCK CARRYING COTTON
- Embargoed: 17th April 2009 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Burkina Faso
- Country: Burkina Faso
- Topics: Economic News,Domestic Politics
- Reuters ID: LVAE561VAI8JHM9VW6MEI8AHII9B
- Story Text: Female organic cotton farmers in Gora village, Burkina Faso, are working the fields removing last year's dead stalks with painstaking effort under the hot sun.
Burkina Faso's cotton sector is the largest in West Africa, with as much as 600,000 tonnes expected in the coming season. Its organic cotton threads its way into American lingerie and French police uniforms, but for now makes up only 1 per cent of production.
And women are the main farmers of organic cotton because they do not farm conventional cotton, the country's main export, because they cannot afford costly inputs, and poisonous pesticides affect their children's health and food preparation at home.
Fairtrade-certified organic cotton instead relies on hand-held tools, and free local plants and dung to make fertiliser and pesticides.
The cotton producers union says women now make up 30 per cent of the country's 8,000 organic cotton farmers.
Athanase Yara is the co-ordinator of agro-economy at the national union of cotton producers of Burkina (UNPCB). He says organic cotton will bring in many many benefits, especially for female farmers.
"We think that producing organic cotton has many advantages.
First, there's the preservation of soil fertility, and then also it allows a category of person to produce organic cotton and who in their soil can't produce conventional cotton" said Yara.
Organic cotton brings in twice as much per kilogram as conventional cotton, but is also safer to farm, as farmers use less dangerous fertilisers and pesticides.
"With the natural products, with the neem seeds that we use in preparation, a pregnant woman can prepare this, a pregnant woman can go into the farms, there's no problem; it's not dangerous for women," added Yara.
Juliana Dabire is a mother of six and an organic cotton farmer.
"We can't say the money is enough, but I could pay the school fees of my child with this money, and I could even buy a bicycle for my children, thanks to the benefit from organic cotton," said Dabire.
But Galina Sotirova, the World Bank's country representative in Ouagadougou, says that Burkina Faso's organic cotton market is still a niche market and does not bring in enough revenue to sustain farmers.
"It's a niche [organic cotton]. In Burkina, it's a niche. I mean when more than 60 per cent of your population depends on cotton, in the objective is to get the productivity high and to gain as much income as possible from exports of cotton," said Sotirova.
Conventional cotton, which accounts for 5 per cent of Burkina Faso's GDP, is facing hard times too, as the world crisis bites. The price of cotton has fallen by nearly half in the last year. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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