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Organic Cotton: Uganda Case Study Alan Tulip and Peter Ton
Excerpted from a report for the Pesticide Action Network-UK's Pesticides and Poverty project Cotton was first introduced in Uganda in 1903. Production rapidly reached over 300,000 bales (57,000 tonnes) by 1930, peaking in 1974 at over 400,000 bales (76,000 tonnes). The cotton industry then went into steep decline and production dropped to approximately 23,000 bales (4,370 tonnes) in 1990. There were several attempts made to revive the industry in the late 1980s and early 1990s but none of these efforts bore much fruit. The industry was liberalised in 1994 and since then there has been some recovery in production levels, however cotton only accounts for between 2 to 5% of Uganda's exports, as compared to 25% in the 1970s.
Local consumption of fibre in Uganda accounts for approximately 5% of total production and consumption appears to be stagnant. A main barrier to the development of the local textile industry is the import of cheaper second-hand clothes, which undercuts local textile production. Also, the Ugandan textile industry has difficulties competing on international export markets. Note that no organic fibres are processed locally; all organic fibre is exported.
In general farmers in Northern Uganda are good sustainable farmers. The average cotton farmer has approximately 9 acres of land (3.6 ha) and cotton is grown in rotation with a large number of food and cash crops. The farmers normally cultivate only 4 to 5 acres (1.6-2.0 ha) leaving the rest of the land fallow. Cotton is the first crop in rotation and sometimes intercropped with diversionary crops. No fertilisers are used due to good soil fertility. Pest management is primarily reliant on predatory black ants, which are highly effective against most cotton pests. Pesticide sprays, if applied at all, do not exceed more than two sprays on average.
Cotton plays a substantial role within the economies of the cotton farmers, being one of the two main cash crops (with sesame). Other (food) crops may be sold as well, like groundnuts, maize and beans. On average the sale of cotton and sesame each account for approximately 30 to 40% of their disposable income. This income is used for maintenance of the family unit, school fees, drugs, construction, cattle purchase, bicycles, etc.
Organic cotton production started in Uganda in the 1994/95 season in Lira and Apac Districts in Northern Uganda. The Lango Cooperative Union initiated the project, with assistance from Sida. The project grew rapidly, exporting 450 tonnes of organic lint from 5,400 farmers in the 1997/98 season. This represented 5% of Uganda's total cotton exports at that time. The project has continued expanding the number of registered farmers and now has 12,000 organic farmers. However, cotton volumes exported have since declined to an average of 200 tonnes per season. In addition, the project markets between 100 and 200 tonnes of sesame per year. The Lango Organic project has attracted much assistance from both private companies and donors, which has led to a rather confused development plan and to the project expanding beyond its financial and marketing capabilities. Some of the original organic areas have abandoned the project, discouraged by the fact that only a minor percentage of the certified-organic production is bought from farmers at organic premiums.
A second exporter, Outspan Enterprises Ltd started operations in 1998, initially for organic sesame production. The marketing of large volumes of organic sesame has made farmers in that project area shift emphasis away from cotton production to sesame production. However, in the 2000/01 season the exporter also made a limited venture into organic cotton. The project now works with nearly 6,000 organic farmers, and in the 2000/01 season it purchased and exported 467 tonnes of sesame as well as 21 tonnes of cotton lint. As the case of the Lango Organic project, only a minor percentage of the certified-organic cotton is so far being bought from farmers at organic premium prices.
The main motivation of farmers for growing organically (84%) is the higher price for organic produce. During the periods from 1994/95 to 2000/01, those organic farmers who were lucky enough to sell their seed cotton at premium prices received overall premiums ranging between 11 and 35% over the conventional market price.
After seven years of organic cotton production in Uganda there is no measurable difference in the living standards of organic versus nonorganic cotton farmers (ownership of bicycle and cattle, housing standards, etc.). This is due to the still rather limited purchases of organic seed cotton at premium prices. When organic cotton farmers manage to sell organic sesame or other crops at a premium price, the economic impact per farmer is much higher.
Cotton Development Organisation
The Cotton Development Organisation (CDO) was established in 1994 by a statute of Parliament. CDO consists of representatives of all stakeholders in the cotton sector: exporters, ginners, producers, researchers, local textile industry, local oil mills, and the Ministries of Agriculture, Trade & Industry and Economic Planning.
CDO selects the varieties of cotton to be grown in Uganda, and it ensures seed multiplication.
The CDO is financed through a tax on all exports of cotton; this tax is set at 2.0% of the FOB value. The organisation covers the cost of seed preparation and chemical distribution by charging separate ginning fees.
Ugandan Ginners and Cotton Exporters Association
The organisation seems to be effective in that cotton seed is distributed evenly within the country, with few complaints that areas are neglected. The cotton produced by farmers is being purchased and processed with no reports of farmers getting completely stuck and being unable to market their cotton.
Research on Cotton Production
The Cotton Research Programme of the National Agricultural Research Organisation (NARO), based in Serere (Soroti district), is financed through the World Bank under the Cotton sub-Sector Development Programme (CSDP). Most attention is put into the breeding of cotton varieties that are resistant to bacterial blight (almost succeeded) and cotton wilts (particularly a problem on sandy soils with low organic matter content).
Ginning outturn is said by NARO to be increasing from 35 to 39%, staple length is now 30-33 mm, micronaire 3.5-4.0, and yarn strength has improved as well. Average boll size has increased from a former 3.5-4 grams/boll to a current 5-6 grams/boll. Lint quality is monitored through a new (1999) high-speed laboratory in Tororo (East Uganda), and another one in the capital, Kampala.
The current dominant variety is BPA 97, but farmers claim seed cotton yields to be lower than with the former BPA 95 variety. Farmers are not involved in criteria setting for the selection of varieties, but participatory breeding is planned for the near future. Recommended sowing dates for the Northern and North Eastern regions are between mid May and mid June, yet seed distribution only tends to be finalised by the end of May. NARO considers the intercropping of cotton with beans or soybeans as optional.
In the Northern region, where the two organic cotton projects are based, fertilisers are not needed thanks to good soil fertility. Green manure is promoted through wild sunflower (Tiltonia diversifolia) which should be cut and incorporated into the soil. Growth regulators (Pix, 1 litre/ha) may be employed in the case of very fertile soils, to stimulate boll formation rather than vegetative growth.
Cotton Seeds
In Uganda only the BPA variety of cotton is now produced. Currently most areas grow BPA 97 or BPA 95. All seeds have been treated with cuprous oxide against bacterial blight, as that is the regulation in Uganda. Moves are currently underway to prepare seeds by delinting. This is not for any environmental reason but it is thought to be a cheaper process of seed preparation.
The cotton seeds are distributed by CDO, who delivers them to the sub-county headquarters for farmers to collect. The quantity to be distributed is assessed on the previous cotton growing history of the area. The farmers collect the seeds free of charge, however the cost of seed preparation and distribution is claimed back by CDO by way of a ginning tax. The seed levy was Ush 88/kg of seed cotton in 2000/01, working out at an extremely high 25 % of the indicative seed cotton price.
Cotton Quality and Standards
At the time of purchase the cotton is normally graded by the farmers into two grades "Fifi" and "Safi." Both are Swahili words meaning dirty and clean respectively. Commonly at the beginning of the season buyers will buy only clean cotton. Marketing of the dirty cotton is conducted at the end of the season. After processing, the dirty cotton is normally exported to Kenya for production of blankets.
Uganda has developed its own official standards for cotton qualification (see Annex 4), which are approved by both the Liverpool and Bremen markets. Table 3 shows Ugandan cotton qualities according to these standards, for 1995/96-1997/98.
Lango Organic Project
The Lango Organic project7 started in 1994 and was initiated by Swedecorp (now part of Sida INEC). The original motivation came from an enquiry from a Swedish textile company routed through the Swedecorp desk officer for Uganda. The potential project was seen by Swedecorp as a business promotion project rather than as an environmental or agricultural development programme.
Since 1999 three parties run the Lango Organic project cooperatively. The newly founded NGO Lango Organic Farming Promotion (LOFP) is in charge of production, quality and purity through an Internal Control System (ICS), and it also monitors the purchase of organic produce (e.g. cotton and sesame). Lango Union is in charge of purchase, ginning and export of organic cotton lint. Bo Weevil (Netherlands) markets the organic cotton lint outside Uganda. Bo Weevil also holds the organic certificate.
Bo Weevil is a Netherlands-based company that has been one of the pioneering companies in organic cotton world-wide. The first purchases of organic cotton from LCU were made by Bo Weevil in 1994. Bo Weevil has continued to be a regular client of the Lango Organic project to date, except for the 1997/98 season when sharp differences with AFTA led Bo Weevil not to buy any organic cotton.
Outspan Organic Export Project
The project was developed in 1997/98 following concern that AFTA played a dominant role in the Lango Organic Project. It was considered that if a second organic cotton project were established, farmers in both areas would be able to compare what price was offered by their respective exporters and this might in turn help to maintain high farm gate prices. The area of Ochero was selected because the area had one of the only Ugandan privately owned ginneries under construction, it had little history of chemical use, and it had a good natural predator population.
Cotton Production—the Farm System
As in all countries, cotton production was organic until after the Second World War. Heavy use of chemicals only started in the 1960s and continued until the mid 1970s. Since 1995 there have been concerted efforts to reintroduce chemical production.
In the northern cotton producing areas of Uganda there is an excellent predator ant called the "nginingini" ( Lepisiota spp.). This ant is very active in the cotton fields and it attacks all the normal crawling predators of cotton. The predator ant unfortunately cannot fly and is not effective against cotton stainers. However, a traditional method of control against cotton stainers is to intercrop the cotton with 'malakwang', which seems to attract the cotton stainers away from the cotton and to act as a diversionary crop. Thus the use of chemicals has never really been necessary for cotton production in Northern Uganda. Moreover, when pesticides are used they eliminate the predator ant population, thereby creating a dependency on the chemicals.
Cotton is traditionally grown in rotation with other crops. Ideally no cotton is sown after maize or sorghum, and no maize or sorghum after cotton. Generally cotton is the first crop planted on fallow land. A normal rotational pattern is as follows:
Cotton may also be cropped with beans or soybeans. Inter-copping is a general practice in the Northern region (for example: cassava/finger millet/sunflower, finger millet/sunflower/maize/pigeon pea, maize/groundnuts, etc.). The wide variety of crops and the practice of intercropping contribute to explain why the production of organic cotton is relatively easy in the Northern region.
There is no active use of soil fertilisers (either organic or artificial). The land still has relatively good fertility and farmer's traditional knowledge has helped to maintain this fertility.
Motivation of Organic Farmers
The main motivation of the organic farmers is to gain higher incomes and a steady market for their crops. Environmental impact is little understood. This is not surprising since the use of chemicals has been limited to date. Thus there is no visible impact of chemicals (either positive or negative) for the farmers to see.
Economic Impact
Organic price premiums First of all, most of the registered farmers that grow organically, and are certified by foreign inspectors, are not able to sell their organic produce to the projects at organic premium prices. Only some 15% of all organic cotton produced and certified in the project areas is in effect being bought at organic premium prices. The other 85% of farmers may aspire to sell their produce at an organic premium price, but in the end they have to sell their certified organic produce at conventional seed cotton prices to conventional cotton traders.
Food Security Conclusions
The production of organic cotton in the Northern region of Uganda is relatively easy. There are few pests or diseases that cannot be controlled easily by natural methods locally available. The farmers in the area are already well acquainted with these methods. There are no yield differences between conventional and organic production. As there are no fundamental differences between conventional or organic cotton production, there are thus no ugly spin-offs of organic production either in terms of labour requirements, labour charge for women, etc.
The two existing organic cotton projects in Uganda have been successful in terms of buying organic produce from farmers at premium prices. The Lango Organic project has marketed over 1,700 tonnes of organic cotton and 500 tonnes of organic sesame since its start in 1994. The younger Outspan project has marketed 21 tonnes of organic cotton and over 600 tonnes of organic sesame since 1998.
Over the period 1994/95-2000/01, those organic farmers who managed to sell their produce at organic premium prices received overall premiums of 11-35% over the conventional market price. Real organic premiums, paid for through the organic cotton trade, were between 11 and 25%. Since 1999/00, an additional "chemical levy premium" is paid to those farmers selling at organic premium prices, ranging between 10 and 18% of the conventional market price. Organic farmers who do not manage to sell at organic premium prices are thus far not eligible to the "chemical levy premium," despite the fact that they do not use any chemicals and that there farms are certified organic.
Recommendations
The key to further development of the organic cotton sector in Uganda will lie in the development of new markets for organic cotton. Farmers are ready to grow organically and be certified, and they know how to do so.
Both organic cotton projects in Uganda can be considered as being "contracted" parties. They only organise organic certification and purchase from farmers for the buyers, without having much access to market information themselves. In order to enhance empowerment of the organic farmers and their organisations, market knowledge and marketing capacities should be developed further in Uganda.
For further information, please see the Introduction to the Organic Exchange at http://www.organicexchange.org/intro.php
Full version of this report in PDF format:
http://www.pan-uk.org/new%20site/Projects/Cotton/pdfs/Uganda.pdf
For information on the Pesticide Action Network-UK, please see http://www.pan-uk.org/ |
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