A black year for Burkina’s white gold 

A few days ago Father Maurice Oudet stopped by in the village of Boni in the cotton belt of the Tuy county.  In the evening he was chatting with the farmers and it became clear that cotton growers were terribly distressed.

We started by discussing the bio-fuel project. Several farmers, who had started tree nurseries for breeding bio-fuel plants, complained that they had not been paid. One of them said: “Had I known this, I would not have given up my market gardening to run into these problems.”

However, it was most of all the situation of cotton growers that claimed our attention. The secretary of the Cotton Producers’ Village Association (GPC) was present. He mentioned that for the first time in his life he was among the “non payers”. In the local context this means that his cotton harvest did not bring in enough to pay for the inputs (fertiliser, pesticides) he had received on loan from the cotton company, SOFITEX (Société burkinabé des Fibres et Textiles), to which farmers in the Eastern region deliver their cotton. And he was not alone! Half of the members of his association  were in the same situation.  Together they had sown 47 hectares and harvested barely 47 tonnes, in other words an average of one tonne per hectare. Just enough to pay back the “loans” they had had from SOFITEX. But a closer look at the members of the association reveals  that there are two categories of members: those who had started sowing early and were able to manage, and those who – for one reason or another -  had sown late and did not have a sufficient yield to reimburse their “debt”.

Since the rains stopped early, at the middle of September, their cotton did not have the time to mature.

At the end of November the special envoys from SOFITEX went out telling producers that action would be taken to come to terms with the situation and that problems would be solved on a case by case basis. Following this a number of farmers went to see the SOFITEX  to explain their difficulties and demand a respite with the reimbursement of their debt. But the SOFITEX managers only took cover behind the “collective debt solidarity” of the association and left the farmers to sort out things between them.

As a result SOFITEX  alone comes out  of the situation unharmed. In getting the 47 tonnes of cotton from the association, the company can get enough money to recover all the loans granted to its members.  It can even pay the association a few thousand francs. “Pas de problème” –  no problem.  For SOFITEX that is. The problems are all for the cotton farmers and for them alone!

The security deposit that members pay into the association was acceptable when cotton still commanded a good price (210 francs/kilo) and rainfall was sufficient. But this year its only effect has been to turn members against one another. Those who achieved a good harvest were paid only a few thousand francs, far from the hundred thousands they had a right to expect. Therefore they  have turned against those unable to pay their debts, threatening to confiscate their cattle or any other possession, in case they do not pay “their due”! Those in arrears with their reimbursement no longer know where they should be heading,  since the maize harvest was very disappointing as well. Some producers are asking themselves if the way out is not simply to run away from it all.

We are now a far cry from  the good days which were still there in the cotton districts a few years ago. In the village of Boni for example the young said that since they could grow cotton, there was no reason for them to leave. The day the cotton harvest was brought in to the village they organised a festive gathering, but at present all the hopes they  placed in cotton have vanished.

At the same time  European capitals talk of co-development, big international meetings are called to put a stop to the influx of migrants, although many experts have said that 150 million € would have been sufficient to save the African cotton trade…. Just a small fraction of the 5 billion € that recently disappeared through the loopholes at the French Bank Société Génerale!

Koudougou, Monday February 4^th, 2008
Maurice Oudet
Director, SEDELAN