Cotton farming provides livelihood for many million smallholders in developing countries. However, declining cotton yields and increasing input costs have lead many cotton farmers into indebtedness. In order to improve the ecological and socio-economic sustainability of cotton production, several organic cotton projects have been initiated in Asian, African and South-American countries.
In a 3-years research project, FiBL has analyzed the impact of organic cotton farming on farms of the Maikaal bioRe project in India. The results show that conversion to organic cotton farming can significantly contribute to improving the livelihoods of smallholders as it generates higher incomes and involves less risk. At the same time, it allows a more sustainable management of natural resources. The detailed Research Report and an Executive Summary are available for download from www.organiccotton.fibl.org.
Within the research project, the following extension tools on organic cotton have been developed:
- Organic Cotton Crop Guide (Rs. 200)
A reference manual for extension workers and organic farmers.
- Organic Cotton Training Manual (Rs. 200)
Transparencies and didactic material to facilitate trainings.
- Soil Fertility Training Manual (Rs.200)
A set of transparencies for training on soil fertility in organic cotton.
- Organic Cotton Project Guide (Rs.200)
A guide to support designing and setting up organic cotton projects.
- Producing Organic Cotton: A Toolkit (Rs.200)
A CD containing the above documents and other tools for extension.
Free downloads of these documents are available from the website www.organiccotton.fibl.org. Hard copies can be ordered from ICCOA (Download form).
The documents and their Hindi versions are also available from the International Competence Centre for Organic Agriculture (ICCOA) in Bangalore, India (www.iccoa.org).
Order form: see reverse.
Funded by:
- Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC)
- World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), Switzerland
Dowmload Order Form - Pdf Doc |
