formed a major exposure route for farm families and was responsible for numerous fatalities. OBEPAB’s painstaking documentation of acute poisoning incidents in the country’s cotton zones, and their identification of endosulfan as the most frequent culprit, were influential in persuading the government to announce a national endosulfan ban in 2008.269 Conventional cotton is simply not sustainable, not only in terms of health and environmental impacts and the economic burden these impose on farming communities and national health services, but also in terms of livelihoods. Use of agrochemical inputs has risen as farmers try to cope with increasing pest problems and declining soil fertility and can account for up to 60 percent of production costs in smallholder conventional cotton farming. The result is falling profitability of cotton, especially when global prices are low, and rising farmer indebtedness, calling the region’s cotton-led strategy for poverty reduction into serious question. Building viable organic cotton alternatives: the first decade The seeds of the OBEPAB organic cotton project were sown in 1995, with the first trial of organic techniques with a group of 17 smallholder farmers. The following year two pilot projects were started in the central and northern regions of Benin, with twin goals: • •
Reducing the human and environmental impacts of reliance on hazardous pesticides Improving the livelihoods and prospects for resource-poor farmers
However, organic cotton production is both labour and knowledge intensive, and the fact that conventional cotton farmers could achieve higher yields, initially put many farmers off adopting organic methods. Key to overcoming these obstacles has been OBEPAB’s dual strategy
Maize inter-rows planted before cotton provides a refuge for natural enemies to build up numbers before the main pests arrive, Ethiopia. PAN UK
of practical farmer training combined with field research to develop effective replacements for synthetic pesticides and fertilizers. Introducing a ‘bottom-up’ approach to education and knowledge-sharing through Farmer Field Schools (FFS), new organic converts learn from experienced farmers, under the technical and organizational guidance of OBEPAB through its field agents, providing farmers with the support and confidence they needed to go organic. The early years of the project aimed primarily at demonstrating the feasibility of organic cotton production in Benin and evaluating how well this could meet the goals of improved welfare and livelihoods. This phase lasted between 1996 and 1999, with the focus then shifting to developing better market outlets for the cotton grown by organic farmers. Farmer training on agroecological principles for soil, pest and crop management OBEPAB has founded its training on the participatory, learning-centred Farmer Field School approach, adapting the methodology over the years to a version best suited to the local circumstances. The FFS approach works
269 Vodouhê DS, Watts M, Sanfilippo D. 2008. Endosulfan banned in Benin. Pesticides News 79 3-4. 115