Real Lives: Cotton in Mali
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INTERVIEW: KEFFA DIARRA
Keffa Diarra is Fana's representative to the national union of cotton farmers. He describes some of the problems facing growers in Fana.
Tell us a little about growing cotton in Fana.
This is one of the oldest cotton-growing areas in Mali, it started here before independence [1960]. You can see there are no empty spaces, it's all covered by cotton fields. Because this area is so heavily farmed, we have a soil fertility problem after all these years, and we have to resort to chemical inputs like fertilizers. We used to have traditional methods to handle this problem but we could not cover the large area we now need to grow cotton. These chemical inputs are really expensive: each sack of fertilizer costs CFA 150,000 [$27], and you need five sacks for each hectare, well you can see this adds up quickly and most people can't afford it.
This year there has not been enough rainfall. Since most people have taken out loans to buy the fertilizer and pesticides and other inputs for their land, all of them are going to be in serious debt. Most already are. And because of the low price of cotton they are probably not going to make enough to cover the cost of production.
Don't the farmers have any alternatives, something else they can grow?
Well, the only thing you can do is give up cotton completely. But then cotton is the only cash crop around here, the only thing you can sell for any money, even though you are in debt growing it. Millet is CFA 50 per kilo [less than $US 10 cents], and you can't make anything out of that. So people are tempted to keep growing cotton in hopes that some day it will get better. The only people who are breaking even right now are those that have some animals that can produce organic fertilizer. But most small growers don't have that kind of capital. So they are continuing to buy fertilizer, and they are continuing to get indebted. So their only hope is that they get a better price for their cotton.
What is the price of cotton right now?
The price is CFA 210 per kilo [$US .38 per kilo, or about US$ .17 per pound]. Last year it was CFA 200. Every spring a government commission sets the price, and farmers can decide how much to plant. And if they reduce this price by even one franc, it will add total misery to a situation that is already catastrophic. This would push people into extreme poverty because the current price will not cover the costs of production.
Tell us about your farm.
I grow corn, cotton, millet, and peanuts on 12 hectares (29 acres). Five hectares (12 acres) is devoted to cotton, and this year I hope I can grow 6.5 tons. I have about six people, mostly family members, working on the farm during the season, and about 10 during the harvest, including a few kids helping out on the weekends.
