Seven of every 10 South African cotton farmers have switched to genetically modified (GM) varieties. The others still plant conventional cotton and use pesticides and chemical fertilisers. South Africa has no market for organic cotton. The GM farmers produced 25 130 tonnes of cotton in the 2001/02 growing season.
On the Springbok Flats, north of Pretoria, Willem van der Walt runs a mixed farm producing sorghum, cotton, rotational crops and pigs. He is a firm GM convert.
“It is absolutely essential,” he says. “Our production costs have decreased 40%. Zero tillage allows for greater water retention in the soil, we use fewer pesticides and our maintenance costs for machinery are less.”
Van der Walt insists his farming methods are environmentally sensitive because he uses less pesticide.
“The production of organic cotton is possible, but you need long-term market agreements to make it attractive,” he says.
Klaus Sall, a Danish organic cotton specialist who works with a foreign-funded project that hopes to introduce cleaner technology to the South African textile industry, reinforces the point. Cotton-growing is the first point in a long production line that produces the clothes we wear.
“If the customer wants it, South Africa can make it,” says Sall.
A small but growing demand for organic cotton is creating viable niche markets in the United States and Europe. Nike marketed its first 100% “organic” range of clothing last year and now wants 5% of all its products to be made from certified organic cotton by 2010. The company buys 600 tonnes of organic cotton a year, but this is increasing by 100 tonnes every year.
Other companies that are following the trend include LL Bean (US), Mabrouc (Switzerland), Ikea (Sweden) and Marks & Spencer (Britain).
Though South Africa has no market for organic cotton, Sall believes local producers should not be discouraged because there is already a global demand for 10 000 tonnes a year.
Turkey is the world’s largest producer of organic cotton, though it has no local market for the crop. It hasn’t been an easy ride for the Turks, whose small-scale farmers have relied on contracts with foreign companies committed to the organic varieties.
Uygun Aksoy, chairperson and founder of the Turkish Association for Organic Agriculture, says the government was pessimistic about the project and farmers resisted converting their land to organic farms, which took three years.
Yields first declined by 15% to 20% before stabilising. “But these losses were offset by long-term price increases of 20% to 26%, because buyers were prepared to pay a premium for the organic materials,” says Aksoy.
Bo-Weevil, a Dutch organic manufacturer, believes customers in Europe are prepared to pay more for the environmental benefit of organic cotton, but this has not yet been the experience of countries such as South Africa and Australia.
Thabo Tshabalala, national education secretary of the South African Clothing and Textile Workers’ Union, says local consumers will be prepared to pay more for organic products once they know the costs of using chemicals in the manufacture of textiles.
“It’s like medical insurance,” says Tshabalala, citing the inherent environmental and health risks of non-organic production methods, “you are prepared to pay for it, though you never know when you will need it.”
Karen Lundbo, the coordinator of the Textile Cleaner Production project who is trying to encourage local retailers to introduce organic ranges, also believes that a local demand will be established.
“Price is an important factor, but the fact that companies like Nike are mixing organic with conventional cotton shows that the manufacturers are actively doing something about it.”
Time can be a fickle agent, but farmers such as Van der Walt know that GM now pays the bills.