Benin is the fourth largest cotton producer in Africa and cotton supports 50% of its population. Most farmers use unsustainable practices including harmful agrochemicals, leading to widespread pesticide poisoning, loss of ecosystem services and loss of resilience to climate change. Use of agrochemical inputs has risen as farmers try to cope with increasing pest problems and declining soil fertility and can account for up to 60% of production costs in smallholder conventional cotton farming.

In November 2021, PAN UK, in partnership with OPEPAB, Aid by Trade Foundation (AbTF) and Paul Reinhart AG, began a three-year project “Growing Benin’s Organic Cotton Sector” to support smallholder cotton farmers in Benin to convert to organic farming. Overall, the project aims to double the production of high-quality organic cotton in Benin, directly benefiting over 9,000 smallholder farmers, at least 30% of whom will be women and 55% of whom will be 18-35 year olds. The project aims to help farmers achieve a 60% increase in net income, increase the resilience and productivity of their farms, and reduce pesticide harms to biodiversity and human health.

Key activities include Farmer Field Schools (FFS) to train smallholder farmers in sustainable farming methods, field trials to evaluate and adapt improvements in agroecological practices for organic cotton production, and seed trials to ensure that high quality, locally adapted, organic cotton seed is available to all participating growers. The project will also contribute to strengthening the linkage of actors along the supply chain and thus to more transparency and continued high demand for Benin’s organic cotton. In this way, continuous investments will be sought to ensure the future of smallholder organic cotton production in Benin.

Many pesticides used in cotton farming are highly hazardous in nature. Farmers are rarely provided with proper training in pesticide use and very few farmers ever wear any form of personal protective equipment. Episodes of sickness after each round of spraying are common. Farmers are spending, on average, 10% of their cotton income on medical treatment for health issues related to pesticides. Research by OBEPAB and PAN UK revealed that exposure via contaminated food, water and re-use of empty pesticide containers also forms a major exposure route for farming families and was responsible for numerous fatalities.

OBEPAB’s painstaking documentation of acute poisoning incidents in the country’s cotton zones, and their identification of endosulfan as the most frequent culprit, was influential in persuading the government to announce a national endosulfan ban in 2008.

Farmers often regard all insects in their fields as pests that need to be controlled with insecticides. The reality is that a large proportion of these insects are beneficial to the farmer, preying on pests and helping to control their numbers. Even insects that are deemed to be pests often only cause damage when found in large numbers. In addition, increased use of fertilisers and pesticides are thought to be two of the major factors accelerating the loss of soil biodiversity.

In this project, smallholder cotton farmers are being trained by OBEPAB staff in organic, agroecological and Integrated Pest Management (IPM) principles and practices as part of the Farmer Field School approach. Using cheap and locally available ingredients to make a yeast and sugar-based food spray that enhances the populations of beneficial insects, ‘farmers friends’, in cotton fields is one such practice.

Farmers are also given training in soil conservation techniques and use of organic manures, composts and oil palm cake to improve soil structure and fertility. Healthy soil contains billions of microbes that break down organic matter (as well as help soil resist erosion, cycle nutrients, and store water). One of the main outcomes of the project is that organic cotton farms have healthier soils. Our objective is to measure the benefits of organic farming on soil health by measuring soil organic matter/carbon content and the rate of cotton cloth decomposition. It is expected that the more active microorganisms live in the soil, the faster and the more holistically the cotton cloth will be eaten up.

Training through our Farmer Field Schools on organic pest management techniques reduces input costs by over two-thirds with no yield detriment. Organic cotton systems are based on crop rotations and intercropping. Our project is currently testing ways of adding value and extra income to farmers’ chosen cotton companion crops, such as cashew and shea. All organic cotton is sold to the Beninese government with a guaranteed premium (currently 20%). With lower input costs and higher revenue, organic farmers earn significantly higher profits on their cotton crop, typically double or triple that of conventional farmers. Farmers also benefit from reducing input costs by half without reducing yields on other crops such as soya and maize and, increasingly, from premium prices for certified organic soya.