PAN UK - Wear Organic

Stories from the Cotton Field:
Neem mills and the mechanics of hope in Benin

Conventional cotton farming techniques deplete the soil of nutrients and can lead to soil erosion. Badly managed pesticide use increases the risk of poisoning farm and domestic animals as well as wildlife. On top of the environmental costs, there are significant human costs: approximately 1 million famers are hospitalised from acute pesticide poisoning every year 1. Most of them are in the developing world where the majority of small-holder farmers and farm workers are women.

So organic cotton farming which eliminates the use of chemical pesticides makes sense but also presents new challenges.

The cotton plant is extremely pest-prone and managing pest levels without toxic chemicals requires ingenuity and hard work. Neem seed extract used in India for its medicinal and pesticide properties and introduced in Africa in the 1980s is a very effective pesticide. But in Benin where PAN UK supports farmers’ groups in its 5 major cotton growing regions, pounding the seeds into powder to make neem sprays was very slow and hard work, reserved for the women.

So with the support of clothing company Frugi, PAN UK provided the women’s groups with 4 mills to mechanically grind neem seeds.

The first main benefit is the money saved and the considerable debts avoided by no longer needing to buy chemical pesticides. Learning to make their own neem spray (though it is commercially available) from the trees that grow all over their communities improves the financial security of the farmers even more.

The mechanical process also frees up the women so that instead of spending several days pounding neem seeds they have time to tend to their fields or look after their families. It is the freedom to choose between options and the financial independence the mills give that makes them so special.

The mills provide additional income for the women as other people pay to use them for grinding cereals such as corn.

The income generated will pay for maintaining and running the mills. And in the longer term, the mills will enable the groups to pay for other costs that are at the moment covered by donor funding such as the cost of organic certification. It is the ability to diversify and earn extra income that makes an organic cotton farm a sustainable farming enterprise.




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