Conventional cotton farmers earn five times more income

Nov 10, 2008

CONVENTIONAL cotton farmers are earning five times more compared to their counterparts practising organic cotton farming. With conventional cotton growing, farmers use synthetic fertilisers and pesticides, while organic cotton farmers rely on natural inputs only without using pesticides or fertilise

By Ibrahim Kasita

CONVENTIONAL cotton farmers are earning five times more compared to their counterparts practising organic cotton farming. With conventional cotton growing, farmers use synthetic fertilisers and pesticides, while organic cotton farmers rely on natural inputs only without using pesticides or fertilisers. This results into low yields because the crop is highly susceptible to pests and diseases.

Organic cotton is mainly promoted by Dunavant in Pader and Kitgum, while conventional cotton farming is carried out in the south-western, eastern and Lango regions.

With conventional cotton growing, an average of 900kgs per acre are harvested, while an organic cotton farmer gets an average of 200kgs.

The indicative price of cotton is at sh800 per kilogramme. A conventional farmer will earn sh720,000, while an organic farmer will reap only sh160,000. This is a difference of 22.2%.

“Cotton growing was the only option of improving my welfare,” a 30-year-old farmer said. He harvested 4.5 bales of cotton seed (about 2,500kg worth sh1.5m) from the 2.5-acre garden he cultivated last year.

Richard Ozelle, a conventional cotton farmer in Buliisa, said his income and livelihood improved when he got good yields.

“I harvested 4.5 bales of cotton seed. This was a good starting point because it improved my household income by about 50%,” Ozelle explained.

“It was a catalyst for my prosperity. I have bought a bicycle, built a three-room permanent house, started a retail shop worth sh1.5m and also paid bride price for my beautiful wife.”

“Our colleagues in the north are suffering from organic cotton practise whose yields have gone down by ahalf and no one is compensating them. How do you expect them to come out of poverty?” he asked.

Yona Munyoga, a farmer in Lyama sub-county in Budaka, recently said farmers in Paliisa, Budaka and Sironko had abandoned organic cotton for conventional cotton.

“I was the chairperson of organic cotton farmers in Lyama village, but pests attacked our crops and we almost harvested nothing,” he narrates.

“Farming is profit-oriented. We have, therefore, gone back to growing conventional cotton because it assures us of high yields and good incomes,” Munyoga explained.

Eleazer Bitumire, a 70-year-old farmer in Kirugu village, Kichwamba sub-county in Bushenyi, said they cannot tolerate organic cotton because it will lead them to poverty.

Uganda’s cotton yields have declined over the years from 476,000 bales in 1969 to 60,000 bales last year. Cotton earnings also fell by 4% to $19.5m in 2007 from $20.4m in 2006.

This was attributed to mass introduction of organic cotton growing in the north and eastern traditional cotton-producing areas that exposed the crop to pests and diseases, hence reducing the yields.

In order to revamp the sector, the Cotton Development Organisation (CDO) has provided free seeds to every farmer, pesticides at subsidised prices and extension services.

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