Oxfam - Empowering Small Cotton Farmers
Pakistan is one of the world’s major cotton producers, the fourth largest exporter of raw cotton, and the second largest exporter of cotton yarn. More than five million people work as cotton growers and pickers in this highly labour intensive sector.
The vast majority of cotton producers are small-scale farmers, with little or no access to markets and are completely dependent on their harvest to feed themselves, and their families. Increasingly, the lives of cotton farmers and pickers, particularly rural women and girls, are blighted by extreme poverty and ill health due to escalating farming costs and increased use of chemical fertilisers and toxic pesticides. Many small farmers struggle to pay for pesticides and are dragged into a spiral of debt. Some are driven to take their own lives, often by drinking the fertiliser they use on their farms.
In 2011, TRAID has donated £76,422 to Oxfam to improve the lives, incomes and health of 6,750 cotton workers by building their capacity to grow cotton without the use of toxic chemicals, supporting them to get a fair price for their cotton and providing training to improve growing conditions and health.
Oxfam and its local partner the Doab Foundation will support small cotton farmers to adopt sustainable farming practices by building the capacity of women's organisations to train cotton farmers to use low impact pest control. These groups will be strengthened by training in sustainable farming techniques and management. Health risks and poor working conditions will be addressed through intensive first aid education, and health and safety training.
By forming women-led producer groups, the project will also empower farmers to have an organised voice to influence district offices, local government and the media for better access to markets and entreprise development.
Read Sunitha's experience of going organic with Oxfam's support.
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