Empowering African Farmers Will Keep Them in Cotton
December 10, 2012 
Cotton yields in Africa are the lowest in the world. The countries in West and Central Africa have an average yield of 343 kilograms lint per hectare (kg/ha), while East and Southern African countries generate only 227 kg/ha. In fact, African cotton yields have been declining over the last 10 years or so, while world average cotton yields increased to 753 kg/ha in the season 2011/12.
The highest cotton yields can be found in Australia, which produces about 1,500 kg/ha, and Israel, with 1,860 kg/ha. In Turkey, yields of 1,350 kg/ha are achieved, on average, without the use of genetically modified BT cotton.
Cotton farmers’ income increases with a higher production and/or a higher price for seed cotton. To increase cotton yields and production, it is necessary to increase seed quality.
To achieve that, we need more applied research on new varieties. It is equally important to invest in good agricultural practices, integrated pest management, and other aspects to improve field management from planting to harvesting. Donor support in Africa to increase income has been focussing on increasing production during the last 10 years or so, neglecting price issues. Despite this assistance, African cotton yields declined on average.
Farm-Related Assistance Is Not Enough
While farm-related assistance is necessary, it is not sufficient, however. Most farmers have a choice of what to produce and can switch from cotton to another product in the next season, if they are not happy with the price or the way they have been treated.
When, after some years, they decide to come back to cotton, they have forgotten about the specific training they received and capacity needs to be built from scratch. No sustainable capacity can be built and long-term yields will not increase as knowledge and capacity comes and goes with donor-funded projects.
The choice to stay in cotton or to switch to another crop, it was believed, was determined by only one factor – namely, the price of seed-cotton. This traditional classical assumption of a homo economicus in the form of an African cotton farmer, however, seems somewhat doubtful. While in the economic model the price is the determining factor under full transparency – in other words, farmers have full information about all other parameters, an African farmer usually has no information whatsoever and is making his/her decision based on a past price only, thus mainly in the dark.
On top of that, seed-cotton prices were often determined by ginners or other entities without being transparent in their operations. A farmer’s vision was reduced to the income received from cotton during the last year, based on an often non-transparent price.
Decisions were not forward-looking and did not reflect socioeconomic factors that go along with empowerment and knowledge creation along the value chain. In the same way as one cannot condense poverty aspects to income alone, farmers’ crop decisions entail other aspects than only the price.
Farmers Need To Be Empowered
To change this in-and-out-of-cotton pattern and to develop a longer-term sustainable approach to increase yields, African cotton farmers need to be empowered.
Empowerment includes understanding the market for seed-cotton as well as lint, and the market dynamics along the entire cotton-to-textile value chain. Most African farmers do not understand the cotton value chain and their crucial role in it. Their knowledge ends at the seed-cotton buying post or at best at the ginnery. They have no idea on how value is added to their seed-cotton in the textile process.
That also means they do not understand the market and its dynamics for cotton lint, which in turn determines, to a large extent, seed-cotton prices.
In many East and Southern African countries they rely on ginners, which are often multinationals that follow their own economics.
Empowerment, which in the East and Southern African context needs to be applied via strong farmer associations, creates not only sustainable knowledge but a sense of ownership along the cotton value chain.
With knowledge comes transparency and subsequently trust – trust in partners and, more importantly, trust in one’s own capabilities and achievements. Knowledge and the recognition of one’s own capabilities will create a longer-term vision of farmers supporting their continuous engagement in producing cotton.
Empowerment also makes African cotton farmers more equal partners vis-à-vis ginners in seed-cotton negotiation. With an understanding of the market, transparency in costing issues and ginning out-turn, etc., farmers will be able to negotiate a fairer price for their seed cotton. That would avoid situations in which ginners try to pass on price risks entirely to farmers by reducing the seed-cotton price.
Cotton Is a Long-Term Investment
At the same time, however, farmers will also better understand the price and market risks involved for ginners, traders and other players along the value chain, making their price demands more realistic at times of world cotton price drops. Farmers who have that knowledge and power are more likely to see their engagement in cotton as a long-term investment.
Good examples exist already of how farmers got organized and absorbed market and value-chain capacity building to their benefit.
One such example is the Cotton Association of Zambia (CAZ), which was able to capitalize on market and value chain training and exposure to create a more transparent business environment in the sector in Zambia.
Farmers are now able to negotiate more equally with multinational ginners, leading to higher seed-cotton prices on average. Farmers are also engaging in value addition of the fiber and will be operating a first Zambian-owned ginnery. CAZ has also been invited to join the government task force to revive the textile industry in the country.
All these aspects – higher average prices, more equal relationships, recognition by the government of their knowledge and achievements, as well as investments in their own value-addition operations – will contribute to farmers remaining in cotton with a long-term vision. That will be the missing ingredient to increase long-term cotton yields.
To learn more about input credit registration in Zimbabwe, go to page two.
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