WHY ORGANIC COTTON?

R.B.CHAVAN MAHATMA GANDHI INSTITUTE OF

RURAL INDUSTRIALIZATION

WARDHA 442001

E-MAIL rbchavan@hotmail.com

PRESENT CONCEPTPOLLUTERS MUST PAY

CRADLE TO GRAVE OR WOMB TO TOMB CONCEPT

NOT ONLY FINAL PRODUCT BE ECO FRIENDLY

RAW MATERIALS, PRODUCTION PROCESSES,

PACKAGING, ECO FRENDLY EVEN AFTER DIPOSAL

MEET EMS 14000 AND SAS 1800 STANDARDS

ECO FRIENDLY PRODUCTS INDENTIFIED BY ECO

LABLES

GREEN MINDED CONSUMER PREFER ECO PRODUCTS EVEN AT HIGH COST

THREE ECOLOGIES

PRODDUCTION ECOLOGY

USER ECOLOGY

DISPOSAL ECOLOGY

USER ECOLOGY

USER ECOLOGY REFERS TO

AESTHETICS

PERFORMANCE CHARACTERISTICS

EFFECTS OF TEXTILES ON HUMAN BODY.

DISPOSAL ECOLOGY

DISPOSAL OF TEXTILES AFTER USE

RECYCLING,

COMPOSTING,

DUMPING,

INCINERATION

LEAST POSSIBLE ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT .

PRODUCTION ECOLOGY

COMPRISES OF

CULTIVATION AND HARVESTING OF NATURAL FIBRES

THE MANUFACTURE OF SYNTHETIC FIBRES

SPINNING, WEAVING, KNITTING

TEXTILE CHEMICAL PROCESSING

GARMENT MANUFACTURE

PACKING

ECO FIBRES

CONVENTIONAL COTTONCONVENTIONAL COTTON IS NOT ECO FRIENDLY

USE OF FERTILIZERS, PESTICIDES AND VARIOUS CROPS RELATED CHEMICALS

DURING COTTON CULTIVATION.INHALATION DURING HANDLING AND SPRAY

APPLICATION-HEALTH HAZARDSPRESENCE OF THESE CHEMICALS AS

RESIDUE ON COTTON BOLLSWASHED AWAY DURING PREPARATORY

PROCESSES

WATER POLLUTION

Major Cotton Pesticides and Herbicides

Chemical Name

Agri. Use Human Toxicity

Environ. Toxicity

Chlorpynfos Insects Brain and fetal damage, impotence, sterility.

Bees, birds, aquatic

life

Cyanazine Weeds Birth defects,

cancer. Bees, birds, aquatic

life

Dicofol Mites, insecticide.

Cancer, reproductive damage, tumors

Aquatic life, birds,

Ethephon Plant growth regulator

Mutations. Birds, bees, aquatic

life

Major Cotton Pesticides and Herbicides

Chemical Name

Agri. Use Human Toxicity

Environ. Toxicity

Metam Sodium

Insects, nematodes, fungus, weeds.

Birth defects, fetal damage,

mutations

Bees & fish.

Methyl Parathion

Insecticide. Birth defects, fetal damage, reproductive & immune system.

Birds, bees,

aquatic life

Profenofos Insecticide & miticide.

Eye damage, skin irritant.

Birds, bees, & fish.

Prometryn Herbicide. Bone marrow, kidney, liver, testicular damage.

Bees, birds,

aquatic life

Major Cotton Pesticides and Herbicides

Chemical Name

Agri. Use Human Toxicity

Environ. Toxicity

Propargite Miticide. Cancer, Fetal & eye damage, mutations, tumors.

Bees, birds,

aquatic life

Sodium Chlorate

Leaf drop & weeds.

Kidney damage & methemoglobinemia

Birds & fish.

Tribufos Leaf drop. Cancer, tumors.

Birds & fish.

Trifluralin Herbicide. Cancer, fetal damage, teratogen, suspect mutagen.

aquatic insects, bees, birds, & fish.

PESTICIDES – HEALTH HAZARDSSOME FACTS(US Study)

• Number of pesticides in the market 400• Major source of ground water contamination• Number of different pesticides documented by

the E.P.A. to be present in groundwater 74

• Pesticide-related illnesses among farm workers in U.S.A. each year: approximately 300,000

• Harmful impact on birds, aquatic life and soil fertility

Pesticides in developing countries

• Developing countries are the fastest growing pesticide markets, where health and environmental regulations are extremely limited, and a great deal of the poisoning take place.

• Obviously the number of persons affected are very much larger than in USA

A young Mexican girl

drinking water from an

empty pesticide

container.

This picture strongly

demonstrates the lack

of education about the

dangers of pesticides in

rural areas of the

developing world

including india

KING COTTON

COTTON BUD

COTTON

FLOWER

beneath cotton's natural fiber lies a long chain of chemically-intensive,

"unnatural" processes. 

To bring this delicate plant to harvest, it is heavily sprayed - 8 to 10 times a season - with poisonous pesticides

they gradually render fields barren.  And that's just the beginning. 

Need for organic cotton

Like most technologies, pesticides are not neutral. 

  Manufacturers insist that they are

selective, wiping out undesirable elements and leaving others unharmed. 

  The list of tragic accidents involving chemicals

used on cotton, however, is lengthy.   

The 1984 gas leak at the Union Carbide factory in Bhopal, India - which included chemicals

used on cotton - speaks for hazardous effectsAn estimated 25 million people worldwide are

poisoned by pesticides every year, which translates to 48 per minute. 

It is almost universally agreed that pesticide

exposure heightens the risk of cancer.

So much is made of the economic advantages of pesticides by chemical

companies interested in sales But little is said of the hidden costs, the contamination of soil and ground

water, the negative effects on farmers, farm

workers, aquatic and wildlife.

COTTON CULTIVATED WITHOUT USING

FERTILIZERS PESTICIDES AND OTHER CHEMICALS

(ORGANIC FARMING) RESIDUE OF THESE CHEMICALS REMOVED DURING

FIRST TWO SEASONS OF CULTIVATION COTTON FROM THIRD SEASON ONWARDS IS ECO

FRIENDLY INDENTIFIED BY LOGOS ORGANIC COTTON GREEN COTTON NATURAL COTTON

ECO FRIENDLY ORGANIC COTTON

ORGANIC COTTON

ORGANIC COTTON CULTIVATION

CLEANER APPROACH•Organic farmers use biologically-based rather than chemically-

dependent growing systems to raise crops.

Soil •Organic farming starts with the soil. replace synthetic fertilizers to

keep the soil healthy and productive. Fields must be free of synthetically-derived chemicals to achieve organic certification.

Weed Control •Weeds are controlled by innovative farm machinery, hand labor or

flame devices rather than herbicide applications.

Organic cotton certification

INTERNATIONAL FEDERATION FOR ORGANIC AGRICULTURE MOVEMENT [IFOAM]

has formulated standards and guidelines for

organic cotton cultivation and are

followed by many labeling agencies to certify

organic cotton and other farm produce.

ORGANIC COTTON REDUCTION IN AGROCHEMICALS

COTTON SUICIDES-INDIA•Excerp from "Cotton, Pesticides and Suicides," by Jitedra Verma, posted in the Earth Island On-line Journal. Verma is a reporter for Down to Earth

magazine (Centre for science and environment

•"Since the beginning of the new year, not a single day has passed

without one cotton farmer committing suicide," says a farmer in

Warangal, where almost the entire standing cotton crop has been

devastated, placing communities on the brink of starvation. Faced with a

raging attack on the cotton crop by Spodoptera litura (tobacco cutworm)

and Heliothis armigera (American bollworm), frantic Andhra Pradesh

farmers were begging to pesticide suppliers for giving pesticides on

credit. But the indiscriminate application of pesticides only led to

increased resistance in pests. While pests continued to ravage crops,

debts of farmers mounted and the noose tightened.

INDIAN COTTONIndia is the third largest producer of cotton

Percentage of agriculture land under cotton production in India:

5 per cent (8.9 million hectares)

Percentage of total pesticide used for cotton

cultivation

54 per cent

cotton makes for 70 per cent of the textile sector's raw material

ORGANIC COTTON IN INDIA

Five to seven decades ago, most of the cotton cultivated in the country was ‘eco-friendly’ with little or no use of toxic chemicals in its production.

Even today, there are many pockets in India, where it is produced without the use of agrochemicals, e.g.,

• Wagad cotton in Gujarat,

• Y-1 desi cotton of Khandesh region of Maharashtra,

• Maljari in Madhya Pradesh,

• Jayadhar and Suyodhar in Karnataka

• parts of cotton areas in north eastern hill region.

Vidarbha organic farmers Association(VOFA

1993 Visit of Envirnmental Protection Encouragement Agency (EPEA) Hamburg Germany to Central Cotton Research Institute, (CICR) Nagpur

To confirm organic cotton farming in Vidarbha

EPEA confirmed organic cotton in Vidarbha

1994 Organization of 135 farmers from five districts Nagpur, Wardha,

Yavatmal, Amravati and Akola

1995 commitment of 12,00 hectares land for organic cotton cultivation

1995 Formation of Vidarbha Organic Farmers Association

1996 Bumper crop of organic cotton

Present status of VOFA

205 Members

90 Practicing organic farmers

3500 Acres area under organic cotton farming

Purchaser: Fare Trade Company Japan

Voluntary organizations in organic cotton

production

VOFA (VIDARBHA ORGANIC FARMERS ASSOCIATION), MOFA (MAHARASHTRA ORGANIC FARMERS

ASSOCIATION), have been formed either by farmers groups interested in

organic cotton cultivation or to assist such groups by offering technical assistance.

yield level of 500-750 kg/ha. The technological properties of organic cotton

micronaire (3.8-5.0), span length (25.5-29.9 mm) and

fibre maturity parameters similar to fibres produced by conventional methods

Organic cotton production in India

14-15 lakh bales of uncertified organic cotton

(Cotton corporation of India)

Estimated certified organic cotton 1000 tons

Total world production 8150 tons

15% of total world production

37% Asian countries production

WHY ORGANIC FARMING

Large retailers are profitably marketing garments made of organic cotton

Consumer preference for environment friendly products

Market advantage for environment friendly products

Future generation: Our farming and manufacturing methods should pass on clean environment to our children and grandchildren for their health and happiness

Cleaner approach : organic cotton saves 30% of harmful synthetic fertilizers and farm chemicals

Forthcoming regulations to ban toxic agriculture chemicals