The magazine of the art-form of the photo-essay
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Oct 2013 back issue
by Sean Hawkey
Senegalese cotton farmers grow their own food, but their cash comes from growing cotton. The price they get for their
cotton is low because they have to compete against subsidised cotton production elsewhere. Cotton producers in the
US have been given $25 billion of subsidies in the last ten years for example, and that's hard to compete against if you
don't get any subsidy. Cotton farmers in Senegal have gone from poor to poorer.
In these tough times of low prices, West African cotton farmers and their organisations have looked to alternatives.
Many have given up cotton farming altogether. Others have got organised and got certified as Fairtrade producers.
It isn't easy or cheap to get certified. A lot of training and preparation is needed to bring the farmers' group up to
Fairtrade standards. But, when it comes to harvest time, they are paid a guaranteed price for their produce, above the
market price. And the farmers' group was also paid the Fairtrade premium - that the group had to decide what to do
with.
The premium has been used to help build and furnish schools, and to buy packs of stationery, books and schoolbags
for students. Some has gone on projects for clean drinking water. Some has been spent helping build and equip
clinics, and to train villagers in health care and midwifery. Or to build community stores or warehouses.
The benefits of Fairtrade are so attractive that many cotton farming groups in West Africa are hoping to become
Fairtrade-certified, but there’s a waiting list. The certification of new farmer groups depends on increased demand for
Fairtrade cotton by consumers.
Before becoming Fairtrade-certified many families in Thiokéthian couldn't afford even the basic books and exercise
books that the children need to attend school.
Until the clinic is finished in Thiokéthian, health officials provide services like vaccinations in the open air. Farmers'
organisations say they are strengthened by Fairtrade and better able to deal with government to ensure that their
rights are met and services are provided.
In rural areas the cotton is mainly transported by people and long distances are covered on foot. Fatoumata Diallo
carries raw cotton two km from a field to Thiokéthian village. Sometimes she does this several times a day.
While conventional cotton is bought on the market at 34 cents a kilo, the Fairtrade price is 42 cents a kilo. This higher
rate makes a big difference to poor farmers.
In communities where poverty is accompanied by hunger, one of the differences that Fairtrade makes for many f
amilies is simply extra food.
Workers at the ginning mill in Tambacounda suck up cotton from a container module brought in from Sitaoulé
Bananding. The metal tube feeds cotton into the mill using a giant vacuum cleaner.
In the ginning mill the seeds are removed from the raw cotton, along with any leaf particles or dust that may remain in
the hand-cleaned cotton. Seeds are sold for their oil to the cosmetics industry.
A worker scales a ladder to the top of the SODEFITEX
ginning mill in Tambacounda.
Cotton farmers tie a large bundle of cotton ready to be weighed before transport to the ginning mill.
Cotton is lifted into container modules that are picked up by trucks from the mill.
Farmers lift a large bundle of raw cotton onto a set of scales to be weighed by an agent of the ginning mill that buys
the cotton from the farmers.
Fairtrade certification has given cotton farmers ways of making their livelihoods more stable despite suppressed global
cotton prices.
Cotton picking is traditionally done collectively, everyone helps each other out, and the plot owner gives their helpers a
good lunch. Here women farmers with their babies on their backs pick cotton in Sitaoulé Bananding, near
Tambacounda, Senegal.
Khady Waylie, a cotton farmer in Sitaoulé Bananding, throws freshly picked cotton onto a heap. The harvest is a
celebration that marks the end of a season's hard work. Khady grows cotton that is certified Fairtrade and exported by
FNPC.
