Cotton was introduced to the village of Karangasso-Sambla in the beginning of the 1980s, after droughts compromised the growing of vegetables and cereals. The farmers were enticed by the «loto winner» phenomenon, cotton being the only cash crop available and the money being given in a single installment. Cotton has soon become the country’s primary export - if excluding labor exports to plantations in neighboring Ivory Coast. This year several farmers who have not yet ran away from the cotton company (SOFITEX) or swallowed toxic chemicals as a ultimate escape from indebtedness, chose not to grow anymore cotton. With the price dropping since 2003 and the inputs bought on credit with solidarity guarantee, cotton growing is disrupting social and even familial relations in the village.
Cotton cropping takes up to 25% of the world’s chemicals and is the plant causing the most pollution on Earth. For example, the Cold War’s geo-strategic game pushed Stalin to turn Central Asia into a major cotton producer, to avoid imports from the first world. The result: the drying of the Aral Sea, one of the worst ecological disasters the world has known. Yet another example, the insecticides used in controlling the variety of pests attacking the cotton plant is a cause of skin rashes, chronic headaches, blindness and cancer. Men in Burkina Faso go out in the fields without safety equipment, with their barrel on their back; according to one farmer, the cotton company staff would only do this with «astronaut gear». What’s more, the empty containers are often barely rinsed before being used to serve the local millet beer.
For every bag a farmer sells to the SOFITEX, the latter retains the equivalent of 2 kilos’ worth to account for «transportation losses». In addition, farmers’ groups are responsible for filling the truck whenever it comes - that is, an endeavor of 8-10 hours, often at night, with a penalty of 5000 FCFA (about 11$) per absent person and with the threat of leaving the remaining of their production laying there, vulnerable to fire. In the event of a road accident, they also have to refill the trucks, adding to the list of unremunerated and strenuous tasks. The interaction between farmers and SOFITEX is consistently said to be oppressive and disrespectful, with the company changing rules and deadlines at will and doing propaganda on the radio.
Burkina Faso has a unique system of quality classification; at the moment of commercialization, SOFITEX employees called conditioners divide the cotton between 1st, 2nd and 3rd choice quality (1st being the highest). There is a difference of 15 FCFA (about 0.03$) per kilo between the qualities, which can account for tens of thousands of FCFA over a large production. This process is portrayed as the most unfair of the trade: there are consistent occurrences of bribing and incoherent decision-making. For example, cotton from the same field can be half 1st choice and half 2nd choice. Farmers also say the conditioners will only have their contract renewed if they turn in a minimum of 2nd choice. However, SOFITEX, with the most advanced quality control labs of West Africa, performs tests on several criteria (color, brightness, elasticity, etc.) on every cotton fiber sample and then distributes it to its highly quality-conscious clients. It denies this accusation of bias in the quality control process.
Cotton is an extremely labor intensive crop and its cycle, from seeding to picking, takes the whole year and more physical efforts than all traditional crops combined. Children are taught to help their family in the fields from a very young age. A secondary school teacher says his pupils come to school exhausted on Mondays, have no time to review their lessons and are often removed from school early to fulfill the needs in the field and thus the desire of their father to buy a motorcycle or beasts of burden for the family. Without the kids, who are said to be the best pickers because of their small hands, parents would have to hire workers at a rate of 500 FCFA (about 1.10$) per day to pick their cotton, a wage that would compromise the returns of an already unprofitable crop.
SOFITEX is the biggest employer in Burkina Faso, and is responsible for selling field inputs on credit and transporting cotton to factories in towns to finally export it through ports in Abidjan, Lomé or Accra. Less than 3% of the cotton produced in Burkina Faso (Africa’s largest producer) is transformed locally. SOFITEX is known for the abusive behavior of its employees; from CEO capital retention to drivers illegally selling their trucks’ gas, fraud is calculated as a cost to the company and contributes to lowering the price the farmer receives per kilogram. This is notwithstanding the fact that this year SOFITEX was more than 6 months late in paying the farmers and failed to provide them with next year’s fixed buying price before they had to start seeding, which resulted in them not being able to calculate profitability with tangible numbers.
For the third year now, the Swiss organization Helvetas is helping Burkinabè cotton growers to get organic and fair trade certifications. While guaranteeing an environment free from hazardous chemical inputs and a higher income for the farmer (235 FCFA per kilo in contrast to 165 FCFA for conventional cotton for 1st choice + 35 FCFA per kilo for local development projects), this initiative is striving to serve the growing markets and entitle cotton croppers to their right of making a decent living with their principal income-generating activity.
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