Successful week of the Organic & Fairtrade Cotton Coalition in Burkina Faso

The 1st SICOT (Salon International du Coton et du Textile) which took place from September 25th to 29th in Koudougou, Burkina Faso, was a great success and an important step forward towards a major expansion of organic and Fairtrade cotton production from Burkina Faso and West Africa as well as local added value in the future.

The vision of the Organic & Fairtrade Cotton Coalition (CCBE) is to achieve a local market share of 5% (40’000 tons of cotton fibre) and to increase the local added value, that is the cotton used in the local textile industry, from 3% to 20% in the next few years. This seems feasible if the various players along the textile value chain, from farmers to the textile industry to brands and retailers, work together. Horizontal and vertical collaboration is crucial and SICOT has shown that there are many actors that believe in it.

Regional Workshop Organic & Fairtrade Cotton-Coalition on September 25th in Ouagadougou

Platform partners from the Coalition member countries Mali, Burkina Faso, Senegal and Benin met at the workshop to exchange experiences, present the current situation and talk about future collaboration and activities. AproCA, FiBL, ecos, Textile Exchange and Cotton Expert House Africa (CHA) participated as well. Workshop participants discussed and approved the above-mentioned goals (link one-pager). Farmers and national stakeholders are motivated and willing to rapidly increase production of organic and Fairtrade cotton when the equivalent market demand exists. The program will require external funding for the next five years, but will subsequently become a self-sustaining business model.

« Organic & Fairtrade Cotton Coalition West Africa: An Innovative Partnership »
An open event before the SICOT conference on September 26th in Koudougou

The opening of this important event for the Organic & Fairtrade Cotton Coalition and the further development of organic and Fairtrade cotton in West Africa started with welcome addresses from UNPCB, AproCA, Swiss Cooperation, GIZ/German Cooperation, ecos and FiBL. About 100 persons listened afterwards to the presentations about the current situation in the Coalition member countries and the plans to increase the organic and Fairtrade cotton production in the future. The five pillars of the Coalition were presented and discussed:

• Building of the coalition: Business-model, private sector engagement, structure

• Production Services: Research, training, capacity building, quality and yields improvements

• Information Services: Implementation of an innovative IT-tool

• Institutional Setting: Organic and Fairtrade cotton as part of the agricultural strategies of the member countries

• Local added value: Initiatives for the implementation of local textile industries

Additionally, the Chetna Coalition from India was presented to discuss partnership and lessons learned. Moreover, Southpole outlined arguments to use organic and Fairtrade cotton from West Africa in relation to the SDG’s (Sustainable Development Goals), climate change (climate-neutral cotton, insetting-program) and water consumption.

At the end of a rich day, the Coalition family celebrated the event and collaboration with an aperitif, sponsored by the Coalition-partner Fairtrade International.

SICOT (Salon International du Coton et du Textile): September 27th/28th

The SICOT conference was officially opened by the President of Burkina Faso, Roch Marc Kaboré. Organic and Fairtrade cotton and the Cotton Coalition were an important part of this first conference, where 800 persons discussed various aspect of cotton production and the development of a national textile industry.

Regional Organic Cotton Round Table (OCRT) by Textile Exchange & CRS: September 28th

On Friday 28 September 2018, Textile Exchange launched the first Regional Organic Cotton Round Table (OCRT). The agenda for the Regional OCRT was based on findings from the recent Market Opportunity Scoping Project (MOSP) carried out by Change Agency for Textile Exchange (access the MOSP Discussion Document via the Regional OCRT webpage). These findings were also presented during a panel discussion at the conference on “Organic Cotton’s Contribution to the Economic Growth of African Countries”.

Field Trip on September 29th

Following the exhibition and the conferences, ecos and UNPCB offered a field trip to the building site of the first West African organic cotton ginnery (adjacent to an existing conventional ginnery) and to a farm, where participants could meet a producer of a cooperative for organic and Fairtrade cotton.

The farm is located in the village of Taré in the province of Ziro. It belongs to Habiba Nama, who has been growing organic cotton since 2016 as a member of SA SCOOPS-PCB cooperative. In total, SA SCOOPS-PCB brings together 1,245 producers (757 of them women) who grow organic and Fairtrade cotton in four provinces. Habiba Nama explained to the visitors the various benefits of organic cotton cultivation, in particular the possibility of paying for her children’s education. She also talked about some of the challenges she faces, such as the transport of manure.

The new organic cotton ginnery is located in the sourroundings of Koudougou. It results from a collaboration between the USDA-funded RECOLTE project, CRS, UNPCB (National Union Of Cotton Growers Of Burkina) and SOFITEX. The ginnery is planned to be operational by mid-2019. The installation of the facility will enable the UNPCB to resolve bottlenecks associated with the delayed ginning of organic cotton. This in turn will promote the growth of organic cotton production and international trade.

Next steps in the Organic & Fairtrade Cotton Coalition

The next exchange with various actors will already take place on 22 October at the annual conference of Textile Exchange in Milano. The funding of the Coalition programme is secured until the beginning of 2019. The national platforms and the regional exchange should be established and purchasing guarantees from actors along the value chain should form a good basis for the planning of the expansion of the production of organic and Fairtrade cotton with the 2019/20 season. The next Organic-Cotton Roundtable Africa from Textile Exchange in collaboration with the Cotton Coalition is planned for spring 2019 in Europe.

The 2nd SICOT (Salon International de Coton et du Textiles) will take place on January 30th/31st 2020 in Koudougou, Burkina Faso.

This first phase of the Organic & Fairtrade Cotton Coalition has developed well thanks to the great work done by the platform-members in the member-countries, as well as to AproCA, ecos, FiBL, the partnership with Textile Exchange and Fairtrade International and the financial support of the Swiss Cooperation and GIZ/German Cooperation.