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organic cottonIn recent years, more and more people have started to ask for organic cotton: cotton that is grown without synthetic pesticides.
World-wide
At the present time, organic cotton is only a very small percentage of the total amount of cotton produced in the world, but the demand for organic cotton is rising and some mainstream companies in the North are becoming involved, for example Levi Strauss, Nike, and the Co-op (Switzerland's second-largest retailer).
Organic cotton is grown in 15 countries. The biggest producers of organic cotton are Peru, Egypt, India, Brazil, and the US, but the number of new projects in Africa is increasing.
ORGANIC COTTON: cotton that is grown without synthetic pesticides.
SYNTHETIC: made by people - the opposite of "naturally occurring"
MAINSTREAM: a part of the usual trends and developments
Growing organic cotton in Africa
Benin is one African country where some farmers are starting to grow organic cotton: -instead of using stronger and stronger pesticides.
In Mangassa, Benin, a group of 18 farmers joined a programme to grow cotton organically, making their own fertilizers and pesticides from natural substances. At first, they expect their cotton crop to be smaller, but when the new system is well established their crop should increase.
Kitche Denis is one of the farmers in Benin:
"We used chemicals on our cotton crop and we had higher yields than now, but we were often sick and had to spend some of the money we earned on medicines ...
"This season, I grew cotton without any chemical fertilizers or pesticides. We used palm oil cake, ash and cattle manure as fertilizer, and we put organic matter back into the soil through the cotton leaves that fall early.
You put FERTILIZER on the soil to help a crop grow.
MANURE: waste from animals used as fertilizer
"We treated the pests with extracts from the neem tree, and papaya leaves, cow urine and garlic ... Pest infestation can be high and it is hard to treat the bollworms so we would like to have other ways of protecting the plants as well.
A PEST INFESTATION occurs when there are large numbers of pests causing lots of damage BOLLWORM: a pest that destroys cotton
"There are ten people in my family and we all work in the fields, sometimes with extra help. The women do the sewing, weeding and harvesting. And with organic agriculture it is safe for them to be in the fields with the children now because the natural sprays do not make us ill.
"We are now in our fourth season of growing organic cotton and production is increasing year by year. We are sure this year's crop will be higher again.
SEWING: planting the seeds in the ground
WEEDING: removing weeds (unwanted plants) that are growing among the crop
HARVESTING: picking the cotton
"My message to other farmers is that we should rely on ourselves instead of depending on others. Our neighbours admire our village and want to become like our group and the number of farmers in the project is increasing each year.
So, will organic cotton become more common?
It could help to solve some of the problems faced by the textile industry in the North, which is under pressure in different ways:
- environmentalists are calling for stricter controls on cotton processing to protect the environment;
- more and more consumers believe that corporations must be held responsible for the harm that they do to people and to the environment;
- the textile industry in the South can produce clothes more cheaply.
The TEXTILE INDUSTRY is the industry that makes cloth.
If you are UNDER PRESSURE, you are getting strong demands to do something
There are still some difficulties to overcome.
For example, organic cotton can be cheaper to grow than other cotton, but this is not always the case. Small farmers save money because they don't buy commercial fertilizers and pesticides, but they have to do the extra work involved in growing organic cotton, like making their own natural fertilizers and pesticides. Therefore, if these farmers have to hire more workers, they may not save any money.
COMMERCIAL: produced and sold by companies for profit
Another difficulty comes from the fact that, right now, the market for clothes made from organic cotton is small. That means that these clothes are more expensive when they reach the shops because the cost of many steps along the way is greater per item.
However, the demand for organic cotton is growing, so the challenge facing organic cotton is to expand and to meet that demand successfully.
Material is adapted from the article Cotton Tales by Dorothy Myers in May 2000 issue of the New Internationalist
© 2000: the New Internationalist
NI Global Issues for Learners of English > Issues > Pesticides > Organic cotton
Last Modified: 25 July 2000