Perceptions of the Poor

The Impact of Organic Cotton Agriculture on the Wellbeing

of bioRe Farmers in Rural Tanzania

Romina Jermann

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The present study was conducted on the ground in the Meatu District of Shinyanga region, Tanzania within the framework of the organic cotton trading company bioRe Tanzania between March and May 2010. The main goal of the impact assessment was to find out how organic cotton farming influences wellbeing of bioRe Tanzania’s contract farmers (hereafter bioRe farmers). bioRe Tanzania buys organic cotton from their contract farmers with a 15 percent price premium and a purchase guarantee of five years and trains the farmers in organic management practices. As no qualitative data on bioRe farmers existed before, it was not possible to conduct a before-after comparison. In the study, bioRe farmers were thus encouraged to share their experiences and to recall major changes in their wellbeing over the last then years. In order to control important factors, conventional farmers were also interviewed.

In the end, four group interviews, 22 semi-structured individual interviews (12 bioRe farmers and 10 conventional farmers) and 5 expert interviews were conducted with the help of participatory approaches and analyzed by means of the Sustainable Livelihoods Framework and the concept of wellbeing. The idea of the group interviews was to find out how the farmers define a good quality of life by elaborating wellbeing indicators together with the participants. The most important factors turned out to be the availability of land, a good house as well as enough food followed by education, cattle and income. By discussing the different wellbeing aspects with farmer groups, I was able to gain a first insight into the complex realities of the farmers. Moreover, the elaborated indicators set the focus of the subsequent personal interviews.

Semi-structured discussions held with individual participants opened up farmers’ perceptions on how the conversion to organic farming changed their living conditions. The results show that being integrated in a formal network such as bioRe Tanzania has a broad impact on the wellbeing of the farmers. As bioRe farmers they profit from two-fold advantages:

Firstly, they are able to tap new knowledge, which leads to a sequence of effects. Through the access of organic know-how like crop rotation and the application of manure, most of the participants observed improved soil fertility and crop yields after converting to organic practices. While scientists tend to agree that organic agriculture has a positive impact on soil fertility, the debates continue on its positive impact on overall production. Fertile soils better withstand natural shocks, which would support food security of the farmers.

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Secondly, bioRe Tanzania offers direct economic advantages to farmers: In concrete terms, bioRe farmers can sell their cotton with a 15 percent price premium and face a secure market. Moreover, farmers report reduced production costs mainly because the costs associated with chemicals are eliminated.

The consequences of these financial advantages are not easy to measure and depend on individual situations, but the following assumptions on the basis of the interviews can be done: In times of serious hardship, the farmers would use additional money to buy food if food at home is not enough for the whole family. This implies that they are better able to cope with shocks and are thus less vulnerable. Or, if food is enough, they might want to save their money for the future and buy some cattle using them as kind of a bank account. In good times, farmers would decide to invest their money in the construction or renovation of a house or to open up a small shop in order to diversify income.

Finally, every change in the asset base of the farmers also touches the emotional base of the individuals. bioRe farmers are proud that they receive training and learn to better care for or protect their land, which is their main source of income. Moreover, an improved income makes them more independent from money-lenders and helps them to satisfy their needs such as constructing a new house with a corrugated iron roof that protects them from rain. Being able to build a new and modern house makes the farmers proud and represents a status symbol.

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