Organic cotton

Organic cotton is grown without synthetic pesticides or fertilisers, and instead relies on traditional (and natural) pest control and fertilisation techniques. This means the farmers and their communities suffer from fewer health problems related to chemical inputs, and also allows more women to cultivate their own cotton fields (women have previously been excluded from cotton farming since the use of hazardous chemicals was not compatible with having and bringing up children). The environmental benefits are enormous, and a crop rotation system allows the soil to retrieve its natural fertility.

My first experience of organic cotton was through buying finished fabrics as a student to create organic clothing, in particular for my graduate collection. However, buying these cloths from companies in Germany, Sweden and the USA, I felt I was not able to really appreciate the advantages of organic cotton as I felt so far away from those who produce and process it. This led me to finding opportunities to work directly with producers, and my research pointed me towards West Africa, a region which could benefit from the environmental and economic advantages of producing and selling larger quantities of organic cotton and organic cotton products.

In 2007 I found an opportunity to use my design and communications skills on a project that involved processing the organic cotton grown in Koussanar, Tambacounda region, Senegal, in the surrounding villages. Traditional spinners, weavers, natural dyers, and tailors work together on this project in order to produce quality finished items in local organic cotton, while respecting the principles of fair trade. A large proportion of Koussanar’s certified organic cotton is usually exported in its raw, unprocessed form, to be processed abroad. Processing some of the harvest locally means that more opportunities for paid work are created for the villages, using their existing craft skills.

The most encouraging thing I have learnt about organic cotton farming with regard to Senegal is that the farmers themselves really want to return to traditional methods that respect the soil and ecosystem, and allow them to use alternatives to hazardous chemicals. The idea of converting to organic was not just forced on the rural communities by Westerners and NGOS. Farmers and their families appreciate the extra income gained from the higher price paid for the organic cotton, and the money saved by replacing expensive synthetic pesticides and fertilisers with natural local ones.

In terms of disadvantages of organic cotton, certification costs remain high, and there is a lot of paperwork and monitoring which must be done by farmers themselves in order to prove organic status. These monitoring costs could be taken into account in the price paid for organic cotton, which could be raised for international buyers if demand continues to increase sufficiently. It is true that the yield achieved using organic methods is smaller than that of ‘conventional’ farming, but this difference is made up for in quality and the price paid, so the farmer is overall a winner.

It is encouraging to see more and more Western designers and clothing companies choosing organic cotton cloths, but it is important to consider where the organic cotton was processed and who benefited from this. It is better to support the cotton-growing communities who can process by hand, or industrial processing in the country of origin, than to buy finished organic cotton fabrics that were manufactured elsewhere. Organic cotton has many benefits for communities as explained above, as well as for the environment, so I prefer to support producers in developing countries than those in the West.

Having learnt a lot about organic cotton at the source, in particular in an African context, I am interested in exploring the production and use of organic wools in other parts of the world in the future.

Image: organic fair trade cotton yarn, hand-spun by women in villages around Koussanar, Senegal.