Opportunities for African cotton

LIVINGSTONE — The Zambezi Sun Hotel, a stone’s throw from Victoria Falls and in the midst of Chobe National Park, was the setting for the 5th Cotton Made in Africa (CMiA)/COMPACI conference, where a new memorandum of understanding between Better Cotton Initiative (BCI) and CMiA, GM cotton, child labour irrigation and conservation farming were high on the agenda.

Cotton Made in Africa (CMiA) and COMPACI (the Competitive African Cotton Initiative) both promote improvements in cotton production in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) via a range of initiatives centred around training in sustainable farming techniques, pre-financing production inputs, providing loans etc.

High on the agenda was the proposed co-operation between the Better Cotton Initiative (BCI) and CMiA, which at the moment is throwing up a range of questions as to how it can best proceed, but other issues such as GM cotton, child labour irrigation and conservation farming were also the topics for much debate.

It was reported that the number of farmers in the countries involved in the CMiA initiative is rising, and from 308,500 taking part in the 2010/11 season, 348,000 are expected to participate in 2011/12.

COMPACI, which is backed by the Gates Foundation and BMZ, Germany’s Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, reports similar success and there are a number of key drivers for both initiatives right now.

The first, of course, is the price of cotton. Low world market prices saw SSA cotton production fall by almost 50% between 2005–2009. Since then, however, it has become extremely attractive to African smallholders – 95% of whom have an income of less than US$1.5 per day.

Then there is the commitments of major brands including C&A, Puma, the Otto Group to the use of sustainable cotton – and being primarily grown under rain-fed conditions, Africa’s cotton has excellent credentials here.

One immediate need for CMiA, is to forge closer links with the major retailers in the USA and UK, which for a number of reasons hasn’t happen yet, although the initiative is backed by strong German brands such as Puma, C&A, Otto Group, Tchibo, Tom Tailor etc. The link up with BCI is viewed as a major opportunity for CMiA to achieve this, alongside other measures.

A full report from the conference and subsequent CMiA/COMPACI field trips in Zambia will appear in the next issue Ecotextile News magazine. To receive your regular copy of our printed magazine, CLICK HERE.