Conservation Cotton in Madagascar: creating a triple bottom line with benefits for communities, the economy and the environment: quick guide

What we do

This intervention aims to develop organic, socially responsible and conservation-friendly cotton farming programmes in Madagascar around high biodiversity areas with the aim of creating sustainable livelihoods, enhancing economic development and improving resource management and biodiversity conservation.
The project site is located on the edge of the Mikea forest in southwestern Madagascar, a critically important conservation site that is to become a new protected area in 2008 and is home to the Mikea people who rely on the forest for their livelihoods. The Masikoro people, who live along the forest borders, are traditional farmers but the area is noted for its extreme poverty. Recent evidence suggests that conventional cotton production is linked directly with increased forest destruction and the spiral into further poverty. The conventional cotton farmers have witnessed a considerable reduction in the quantities of cotton sought by their traditional buyer, which has drastically affected the livelihoods of the already impoverished rural farmers, who are turning to the forests for income security - in this instance through the destruction of this limited resource to make charcoal to sell in the large towns or to cultivate maize as a cash crop for export.
Through this intervention, we aim to mainstream local farmer empowerment and biodiversity conservation into the cotton-agriculture business as a contribution to efforts across Africa aiming to break the vicious cycle of poverty and environmental degradation often linked with conventional agriculture. By harnessing the skills of the cotton farmers, technical assistance will be provided to convert cotton cultivation from conventional to organic for improved human, livestock and environmental health.
The project therefore introduces organic cotton production as an alternative livelihood option for farming communities living adjacent to the Mikea Forest protected area and aims to establish a seed-to-shelf value chain for the alleviation of poverty.
The model of ‘conservation cotton' for Madagascar used by our implementation partner, Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), includes innovations in:

• Organic agriculture and the integration of cash and food crops;
• The creation of synergies with other rural development (food crop and bio-fuel) initiatives;
• The protection of natural ecosystems;
• Increased and more direct access for local farmers to global markets; and
• Opportunities for local farmers to achieve clear land tenure rights.

Technically, organic fertilisation and crop protection is most effective in zones where no traditional cotton production takes place (ecological imbalances will be reduced and the positive effects on human and livestock health and the environment will be more pronounced and measurable in exclusive and continuous organic production areas). Therefore, this project has launched organic cotton cultivation on land that has been fallow for several years and, by default, already organic.
The immediate objective of the initiative is to replicate the successes already achieved in the northwest of Madagascar where a partner organisation has been testing the cultivation and marketing of organic cotton, as well as the creation of farmer associations and development of training programmes. This Malagasy community association ODER (Organisation pour le Développement de l'Economie Rurale) will participate in this intervention as a technical advisory partner, providing training extension services to the farmer groups at our project site on the various aspects important to organic cotton cultivation.
Funding support from ComMark enables the WCS and its partners to establish new community projects with appropriate farmer associations and the technical back-up required to ensure effective production. WCS's role includes supporting communities and their representative associations, developing monitoring frameworks to evaluate the ecological and biodiversity impacts, offering training in alternative agricultural techniques and developing local partnerships to implement a plan of sustainable resource management.
In addition to the important institutional relationship-building process between farmer communities and other entities, such as NGOs and the private sector, the success of this project depends on the development of tested organic agricultural methodology in the Madagascar context. WCS is working with both national and international experts to ensure the best possible production of organic cotton.
It is anticipated that the implementation of this project will leverage and catalyse other funding from both public and private sources to achieve complementary activities, including:

• Field agricultural training school;
• Nutrition and reproductive health training and support;
• Environmental education and teacher training;
• Investment for the commercial development of other natural products (for example, honey and sunflower oil);
• Investment for additional cotton infrastructure needs;
• The establishment of micro-credit agencies in the region to support organic agricultural development; and
• Assistance for regional and national authorities to take the model to other areas in Madagascar.

The principal outputs this project envisages are:

• Measurable poverty alleviation and improved livelihoods for local communities;
• Creation of a sustainable industry that supplies the growing global demand for organic cotton and which provides direct benefits to local farmers;
• Protection of the Mikea Forest, a top-priority biodiversity area;
• Empowerment of local communities through training, creation of local farmer associations and improved access to formal land ownership;
• International exposure of successful implementation of Madagascar's Action Plan;
• Revitalisation of Madagascar's cotton supply chain (seed-to-shelf) by adding value to existing cotton production knowledge and infrastructure; and
• Creation of a new ‘global product' - conservation cotton - that will lead to positive links between developed and developing country economies.

Why this intervention

The development of organic cotton production in Madagascar is aligned with President Marc Ravalomanana’s Madagascar Action Plan (MAP), which outlines the political, social and environmental priorities for Madagascar over the next five years. The MAP describes clear commitments for government to improve agriculture through a “green revolution”, to empower people through “good governance” and to “cherish the environment”. One of the key environmental challenges is the ‘Durban Vision’, launched by the President in 2003, which is on track to achieve its goal of tripling the area of conservation through both the creation of new protected areas and the engagement of rural communities for improved natural resource management and the creation of alternative livelihoods around protected areas.
The benefits of organic agriculture include several ways that organic agriculture helps support natural environmental services – improving soil quality, combating desertification and soil erosion, and avoiding chemical pollutants that contaminate ecosystems. In addition, there are obvious health-related benefits of discarding synthetic chemical pesticides.
Also important is the fact that farmers are relieved of the cycle of debt burden that arises from their need to use ‘credit’ to have access to pesticides. The debt burden for local farmers in Madagascar is having devastating consequences as costs have escalated following devaluation of the Malagasy currency. In conventional cotton production in Madagascar, fertilisers and pesticides are ordered on credit by the farmer, the costs of which are then deducted from the farmer’s earnings at the ginnery.
In addition, as this project will assist farmers in developing a diversity of crops, including honey production, sunflower seed oil production, livestock feed, it will both increase economic returns as well as ensure food security.
Madagascar is among the poorest countries in the world, with over 80% of its population rural-based. Cotton has been grown in Madagascar for over a hundred years in two major areas located in the northwest and southwest of the country. Local farmers possess considerable knowledge on cotton production and some of the finest cotton in the world has been grown in the lands bordering the Mikea forest. The production from the conventional cotton agro-industry, led by the Dagris-owned company Hasyma, has been declining in recent years, from over 40,000 tonnes in the late 1980s to less than 16,000 tonnes in 2007. There are several reasons for this, including lack of investment in infrastructure and the devaluation of the Malagasy currency, which resulted in considerable increases in the costs associated with inputs.
The very significant decline in cotton production is leading to dire consequences for local farmers who have traditionally depended on cotton as a major support to their livelihoods. Farmers are now being forced to look for alternatives to ensure their food security in a harsh and difficult environment. The result is that there has been a significant increase in environmentally destructive practices, particularly the destruction of native forests for charcoal and maize production. Local farmers have a tradition of growing high-quality cotton and there is opportunity to transform an ineffective and inequitable conventional cotton industry into an innovative and healthy alternative through organic production.
It is anticipated that the introduction of conservation cotton into the Malagasy value chain will improve the competitiveness of this industry – and enhance the competitive advantage of Madagascar’s cotton apparel industry under EU and US trade agreements – with positive impacts on industrial job creation and sustainability.

What we achieve

This project comprises the first phase of a potentially much larger project to ‘scale-up' organic cotton cultivation in Madagascar. Our initiative will be a critical first step in establishing the methodology for organic cotton agriculture in Madagascar and for consolidating the supply chain within the country. The results from this project aim to build on the pilot production of organic cotton carried out by our partner organisation ODER in the northwest of the island. With this goal in mind, the project carries out market identification, community capacity-building, institution building and provide technical inputs.
The project will also ensure that the organic cotton production is linked to multiple positive social and environmental impacts. WCS-Zambia has conducted trials and developed a range of strategies that link farmer-based activities through agricultural marketing incentives for improved conservation and wildlife management. Through adaptive agricultural practices, leading to improved food security and household income, the costs of managing and policing wildlife resources have been reduced. The Madagascar project follow this model whereby enhanced economic returns from organic agricultural practices reduce dependency on land clearance and help local communities develop sustainable land management regimes. It is in this way that the project goes beyond simply ‘organic' and becomes ‘conservation cotton' with a triple bottom line.
Through this project WCS:

• Introduces to the international cotton buyer those local communities producing cotton in high biodiversity areas where WCS is working to achieve conservation goals;
• Provides access to partnerships and resources to train farmers and develop links between farmers and conservation outcomes;
• Implements conservation activities in surrounding high biodiversity areas, providing links between production activities and conservation;
• Assists with the development, measurement and validation of ‘best practices' for conservation-friendly monitoring of impacts;
• Assists with building the stories of conservation and improved livelihoods for marketing; and
• Monitors socio-economic and environmental impacts of conservation cotton production.

How is this sustainable

The global demand for organic cotton is increasing and currently far exceeds supply. Madagascar is favourably placed to situate itself as a leader in production and supply of organic cotton fibre and garments. The supply chain that already exists in Madagascar allows for a ‘seed to shelf' programme within the country. The conservation cotton produced will support and enhance the economic outputs along the chain, so while this project is focused on improving local economies and livelihoods for farmers, it will also have a significant impact on the value chain as the cotton is transformed from crop to garment.
The project is in the unique and favourable position whereby a willing buyer has been secured for the organic (and transitional) cotton produced by communities living alongside biodiversity. The buyer will provide the sales and marketing necessary to launch Malagasy organic cotton and revitalise the Madagascar cotton industry, and is ready to place an order for organic cotton t-shirts. In its quest for organic cotton, this company is prepared to purchase, at an organic-cotton premium, cotton that is in transition from conventional to organic. Orders will be placed directly with the farmers, whilst WCS and its in-country partners will assist farmers with negotiations and capacity-building, as well as improve farm infrastructure.
Several companies in Madagascar already engaged in the various aspects of the textile industry have expressed their willingness to participate in the Madagascar organic cotton value chain in order to launch on the world market a 100% Malagasy seed-to-shelf organic cotton product.

Who we work with

Wildlife Conservation Society

The Wildlife Conservation Society, through careful science, international conservation, and education, saves wildlife and wild lands. Although parks are essential for conservation, the WCS recognises that the large landscapes adjacent to protected areas, with both animals and humans living alongside each other, is often as important as the protected core. To protect these ‘living landscapes', WCS has created an approach that involves not only parks and protected areas, but also neighbouring people, governments and the private sector.