J.B. Russell

Reportage: Burkina Faso: Collectives and Cotton

Landlocked, semi-arid and with few natural resources, the tiny West African country of Burkina Faso is one of the poorest places on earth. The majority of the country's people are subsistence farmers who are at permanent risk of hunger due to weak soil, deforestation and recurring droughts. Conscious that their land is a fragile, common asset, the men and women of Burkina Faso have gathered their collective force to fight against poverty and famine. Village collectives have revived ancient irrigation and planting techniques to increase their production of millet, sorghum and cotton, the country's only cash crop. In turn, they invest the profits of their group labor into development initiatives such as the creation of grain banks to protect against drought years, reforestation programs, education and other projects that improve the lives of villagers. The cotton producers' collective of Burkina Faso has been instrumental in developing the country's cotton industry, fighting against unfair trade practices and competing with economic superpowers on the global market.

Desertification is a serious problem for the arid, sub-Sahelien central plateau of Burkina Faso. Thanks to the reforestation and tree nursery program initiated by the village collective, the Union Namanegbzanga of Village Groups (UNGVT), the area around Tanlili has remained greener than it's neighbors.Tanlili, Burkina Faso.Photo © J.B. Russell
   
The UNGVT village collective aims to improve the quality of life for rural families and the environmental conditions of the land they use. The region of Tanlili has not known famine since the Union was formed, but poverty and malnutrition persist.Tanlili, Burkina Faso.Photo © J.B. Russell
   
Men discuss the conditions of a marriage between a young man from Tanlili and a girl from the neighboring village of Tanghin. To thank the village for having accepted the marriage of the girl to a boy from Tanlili, the men brought gifts of a rooster, cola nuts and some money to the chief of Tanghin.Tanghin, Burkina Faso. Photo © J.B. Russell
     
  
Young boys burn dried leaves and stems from last years harvest to prepare the land for planting before the rainy season begins.Tanlili, Burkina Faso.Photo © J.B. Russell
   
Pickaxes made from tree branches and hand forged metal for sale in the local market. Agricultural work in Burkina Faso is entirely manual.Zitenga, Burkina Faso.Photo © J.B. Russell
   
Farmers collectively practicing the "Zai" technique: an ancient Mossi technique that had fallen out of use until it was revived by the UNGVT (Union Namanegbzanga des Groupements villageois). It consists of digging circular holes with a pickaxe at regular distances to slow the evacuation of rainwater from the fields and to direct the water toward the seeds to be germinated. In each cavity are placed cereal grains, white and red sorghum, millet and corn, the staple foodstuff of the region. Cereals are rotated with vegetables, beans, peanuts and cotton.Tanlili, Burkina Faso. 09/06/2004Photo © J.B. Russell
     
  
Farmers in Tanlili have revived two ancient techniques to protect the land against erosion and increase their yield. Here they construct small dikes along level lines in order to retain rainwater in their fields and prevent it from rapidly flowing off the land to the temporary rivers that run across the savanna during the rainy season. Tanlili, Burkina Faso.Photo © J.B. Russell
   
Farmers collectively practicing the "Zai" technique: an ancient Mossi technique that had fallen out of use until it was revived by the UNGVT (Union Namanegbzanga des Groupements villageois). It consists of digging circular holes with a pickaxe at regular distances to slow the evacuation of rainwater from the fields and to direct the water toward the seeds to be germinated. In each cavity are placed cereal grains, white and red sorghum, millet and corn, the staple foodstuff of the region. Cereals are rotated with vegetables, beans, peanuts and cotton.Tanlili, Burkina Faso. 09/06/2004Photo © J.B. Russell
   
Farmers harvesting their cotton. Two million farmers depend directly on cotton for survival in Burkina Faso, the country’s only cash crop. Cotton farmer collectives have been instrumental in the development of Burkina’s cotton industry and have been influential in lobbying against farm subsidies given to cotton producers in rich countries. Cotton farmers in the developing world believe that these subsidies have driven world cotton prices to historical lows and constitute unfair trade practices.Koundougou, Burkina Faso.Photo © J.B. Russell
     
  
Cotton farmers at their home amid their fields of harvested cotton near a remote village. Karandasso Sambla, Burkina Faso.Photo © J.B. Russell
   
Cotton farmers in an isolated village stamp down cotton harvests into large bails before it is weighed and transported by truck to a SOFITEX, the state run cotton monopoly, ginning plant.Koundougou, Burkina Faso.Photo © J.B. Russell
   
Cotton farmer collectives work together to stock their harvest at a village staging area. The cotton will be weighed and registered by representatives of the cotton producers’ collective and the state run SOFITEX cotton monopoly before being transported to a ginning plant.Padema, Burkina Faso.Photo © J.B. Russell
     
  
Cotton farmers pile up their harvest into large bails to be weighed and registered at a village staging area before being transported to a SOFITEX ginning plant.Padema, Burkina Faso.Photo © J.B. Russell
   
Many cotton farmers have become indebted since world cotton prices plummeted in 2000-2001. Despite good yields, high quality and low costs, the farmers don’t earn enough to pay back the credits they must take to pay for seeds, herbicides, pesticides and other essentials for growing cotton. Cotton producers’ collectives have helped to reduce the financial burden on individual farmers and have actively lobbied at the World Trade Organization and the Duho round of trade negotiations to eliminate the subsidies that cotton farmers in wealthy nations receive.Pa, Burkina Faso.Photo © J.B. Russell
   
Technicians at a SOFITEX, the state run cotton monopoly, laboratory classify samples taken from each bail of cotton that exits the ginning factory for quality, strain, tenacity, color, length and other characteristics. Burkina Faso is recognized as producing some of the best quality cotton in the world.Bobo-Dioulasso, Burkina Faso.Photo © J.B. Russell
     
  
Workers check bails of cotton ready for export at the SOFITEX Bobo III cotton ginning factory. Cotton makes up 60% of Burkina Faso’s GDP and is crucial to the economy of the country. Some 90% of Burkina’s cotton production is exported to world markets.Bobo-Dioulasso, Burkina Faso.Photo © J.B. Russell
   
Women outside a Sofitex cotton ginning plant sift through cotton seeds rejected as not viable for replanting during the following season. The women sell seeds in the market for making oil and for use in cooking. Bobo-Dioulasso, Burkina Faso.Photo © J.B. Russell
   
Women bring their sorghum, millet and corn to be milled into flour at the village mill. The village women's collective "Manegre" worked together to get the mill installed in the village, saving them hours of grinding the grains into flour by hand.Tanlili, Burkina Faso.Photo © J.B. Russell
     
  
The women's village group “Manegre” extracts Karite butter for the production of soaps, creams and other beauty products in a village workshop set up and paid for by the collective. The sale of soaps and other handicrafts in local markets brings in a supplementary income to their households.Tanlili, Burkina Faso.Photo © J.B. Russell
   
Students in class at the village schoolhouse. Contributions by the members of the UNGVT village collective paid for the construction of lodgings for the school’s teachers. If a village does not have a residence for teachers in Burkina Faso, the government will not build a school for the village.Tanlili, Burkina Faso.Photo © J.B. Russell
   
Before world cotton prices plummeted, cotton producer groups contributed a part of their income to build schools, clinics, and other projects in the villages. Since prices have fallen below production costs, community development projects have ground to a halt.Padema, Burkina Faso.Photo © J.B. Russell
     
  
Villagers caring for a tree nursery that was created by the UNGVT village collective. The nurseries grow some thirty different tree species. Each family has committed to plant trees in the area every year. The UNGVT initiated the program to fight against desertification and erosion of agricultural land, serious problems in the central Mossi plateau.Tanlili, Burkina Faso.Photo © J.B. Russell
   
Radio Cotton is a local station sponsored by the cotton producers union and Sofitex, the partially privatized State cotton company, with programing of music, information, news, agriculture, health and debate programs.Solenzo, Burkina Faso.Photo © J.B. Russell
   
Girls dance to traditional music in the village as other villagers look on at the end of the week. The UNGVT collective purchased traditional musical instruments for collective use in the village.Tanlili, Burkina Faso.Photo © J.B. Russell