Determinants of diversity in organic cotton farming in Bougouni and Yanfolila (CMDT Zone in Mali)

Cotton cultivation is resource-intensive, posing significant environmental challenges, especially with conventional farming methods. Growing interest in sustainable agriculture drives the exploration of organic farming as a potential alternative with lower environmental impacts. Despite its benefits, organic farming often faces criticism for lower crop yields, sparking debates on the trade-offs between productivity and environmental impact. This study hypothesizes that organic cotton farming will have a smaller environmental footprint and higher energy efficiency compared to conventional methods. To test this hypothesis, a cradle-to-farm gate energy analysis and life cycle assessment (LCA) were conducted on both organic and conventional seed cotton production systems in the Beheira governorate of Egypt. The ReCiPe 2016 midpoint and endpoint characterization model was used for an environmental impact assessment. The impacts were evaluated using two functional units: one ton of seed cotton and one hectare of cultivated cotton. The findings revealed that organic cotton outperforms conventional cotton in net energy gain, efficiency, and profitability, with higher productivity and lower energy intensity. Regardless of the functional unit used (mass- or land-based), the assessed organic systems generally show a better environmental performance than the conventional systems in the local context, even when accounting for data uncertainty. This is due to lower input intensity and the use of less energy-intensive organic fertilizers and bio-fertilizers. Fertilization and irrigation are key factors influencing environmental impacts, with fertilization affecting midpoint impacts and irrigation affecting endpoint impacts. Therefore, precision fertilization, efficient irrigation practices, and effective nutrient and soil moisture management are recommended to minimize environmental impacts. Subsequent studies could explore whether similar patterns are observed in different geographic regions and evaluate additional social and economic aspects of cotton sustainability beyond environmental impacts. Future agricultural LCAs should use both mass-based and area-based functional units to capture a broader range of environmental effects and evaluate the co-benefits and trade-offs between organic and conventional practices.

Abstract: This study aimed to examine the institutional dimension of conventional and organic cotton farming; specifically, the relationships between farms and government organizations. In both, conventional and organic production systems, the farmers are located in varying institutional environments. These environments include a social capital formed by relationships of trust and cognitive affinities. This study focused on the social capital and guidelines for sustainable development. Multiple study cases were used for explanatory purposes. Such cases refer to a conventional cotton farming business and a civil society organization dedicated to organic cotton farming, both located in the state of Piauí. A comparative analysis perspective was adopted based on the elements of content analysis. The results showed that the conventional cotton farming business comprises relationships with governmental organizations that are predominantly oriented towards economic efficiency purposes, while the family-based organic cotton farming association comprises relationships oriented by economic, social, and environmental objectives. The present study extends the discussion on these topics by analyzing the institutional dimension oriented towards the sustainable development premises.

Climate change has become a threat to a wide range of local community’s livelihoods particularly cotton farming system of semi-arid areas experiencing changing in precipitation patterns, pests and diseases, and rising input costs. Therefore, while organic cotton farming is increasingly adopted as pontential adaptation strategy, the extent of its contribution to climate change resilience remains understudied. Thus, this study assessed the role of organic cotton farming for smallholder farmers as an adaptation to climate change in Meatu district specifically aim to examine the trend and patterns of climate change, examining the impacts on smallholder farmers and explore the contribution of organic cotton farming to adaptation. The study employed mixed method approach. Simple random and purposive samplings were used to select respondents for the study. Household survey, in-depth interviews, observation and document review methods were used to collect data. The household survey included 246 heads of households. Data on rainfall and temperature was collected from the Tanzania Meteorological Agency (TMA), while linear analysis was used to determine the trends of rainfall and temperature. The study findings highlighted significant trends and patterns of climate change in the Meatu district, including decreasing rainfall and increasing temperatures, which pose challenges to agricultural activities and livelihoods while impacting smallholder farmers ranging from reduced crop yields to changes in traditional farming practices, underscoring the urgent need for proactive adaptation strategies. Organic cotton farming emerges as a promising adaptation strategy, with high adoption rates and a range of benefits, including improved soil health, enhanced crop yield, and increased market opportunities. To conclude, climate change is real and has caused severe impacts on cotton smallholder farmers. However, through the adoption of organic farming smallholder farmers have been able to respond significantly to the impact of climate change. Therefore, it is recommended that organic farming be promoted through the provision of organic farming education, providing support for organic farming initiatives, and strengthening market linkages.

Synthetic pesticides can be detrimental to the health of humans, particularly when handled inappropriately, which is often the case in developing countries. We investigate to what extent using personal protective equipment (PPE) during pesticide application can mitigate the detrimental health effects of pesticides. Our empirical analysis is based on data from smallholder cotton farmers in Benin and includes both conventional cotton farmers who extensively use synthetic pesticides and organic cotton farmers who are only allowed to use bio-pesticides. Using per-capita health expenditure as proxy for the health of the farmers, our results show that conventional cotton farmers generally have significantly poorer health than organic cotton farmers because most conventional farmers wear insufficient PPE when spraying pesticides. While PPE use vastly improves the health of conventional farmers, we do not find a statistically significant effect on the health of organic cotton farmers, which could indicate that bio-pesticides have much smaller detrimental health effects than synthetic pesticides. However, conventional farmers have a similar state of health as organic farmers when they use four or more PPE items. Hence, measures that encourage conventional cotton farmers to use more PPE during pesticide spraying or to adopt organic farming would substantially improve these farmers’ health.

The present study was conducted in Karimnagar district of Andhra Pradesh state. Ex-post facto research design was followed. Sixty organic and sixty inorganic cotton farmers were selected for the study. A knowledge test was developed with 45 items to collect the data from the respondent farmers on organic cotton farming. For response analysis these 45 items were grouped into four broad categories such as conversion and certification requirements (Items 9), land preparation, biomass development, sowing and weed management (Items 9), plant protection (Items 18), and harvesting and post harvest management (Items 9). The findings of the study indicated that majority of organic cotton farmers had high (75 %) level of knowledge; contrary to this majority of conventional cotton farmers had low (43 %) level of knowledge. With regard to the knowledge level on selected organic practices- conversion and certification requirements of organic cotton were ranked first and the practices of plant protection was ranked least by the organic cotton farmers. Whereas the conventional cotton farmers ranked the practices of land preparation, biomass development, sowing and weed management as first and the practices of certification and conversion requirements was ranked least.

Cotton, the most important cash crop of India plays a dominant role in its agrarian and industrial economy. In India, the area under cotton cultivation is the highest in the world and industry provides livelihood to over seven million people. However, cotton productivity in India is low and farmers rely on heavy dosage of fertilizers and insecticides/pesticides to control insects, pests, weeds and growth regulators. Organic cotton farming is the process of growing cotton without the use of synthetic pesticides and chemical fertilizers. Better Cotton Initiative (BCI), is a concept to grow cotton with judicious use of water, chemical fertilizers and pesticides, to reduce the environmental footprint of cotton farming. The objective of the study was to quantify the environmental benefits associated with the production of organic seed cotton and BCI seed cotton compared to the conventional production of seed cotton, using Life Cycle Assessment approach. The aim was also to identify hotspots across the cultivation process. The study was based on primary data collected from farming sites managed by Arvind Group under contract farming model for BCI cotton and organic cotton cultivation in the state of Maharashtra, India. When compared with the conventional cotton system, the organic and BCI cotton show considerable advantage for several impacts categories.

Recently, environmental consciousness and demand of healthy food have increased rapidly. In this context, organic agriculture has been used in all countries. In addition, production area and producers have increased each passing days. “Organic agriculture” also known as “ecological agriculture or biological agriculture” is a production method that aims eco-friendly production, development of plant resistance, and conservations of agriculture soil. Besides, organic agriculture aims to reconstruct of lost natural balance. Organic agriculture bans use of pesticides, hormones, and chemical fertilizers. Especially, organic agriculture gained a commercial dimension with the increasing of consumer demands in 1980s. In organic cotton agriculture, genetically modified cotton seeds are not used. The fundamental of organic cotton agriculture is that cotton seeds are not treated microwave energy and radiation. Organic cotton agriculture consists of all agriculture systems that encourage eco-friendly fiber production. Furthermore, it causes to remove use of chemical fertilizers, pesticides and pharmaceuticals. For this reason, organic agriculture causes to increase the fertility of soil. In this chapter, organic agriculture, organic cotton agriculture, comparison conventional cotton agriculture with organic cotton agriculture, environmental impacts of organic cotton agriculture, and use of organic cotton products were investigated.KeywordsOrganic cottonOrganic agricultureEnvironmental impacts

Cotton fiber is a historically significant, conventional, and natural fiber most widely used in all varieties. Cotton production in the traditional sense necessitates the use of a lot of artificial fertilizers and pesticides. The volume of overall fertilizer intake is recorded as 33 percent of the cotton production per annum using a rough estimation method. Organic cotton is cultivated with distinctive techniques and carefully monitored auxiliaries with shared environmental effects. Organic cotton cultivation includes selecting biotic and abiotic resistant crops, using compost, vermicompost, and organic manures, intercropping with green manures, seed rotation, and bio-fertilizers, bio-pesticides, and botanicals, among others. The use of locally available biological inputs lowers cultivation costs considerably. Natural fiber production aims to safeguard natural resources, human health, wildlife, plantations, and long-term living conditions. Organic cultivation restores and maintains soil productivity, reduces poisonous and persistent pesticides and fertilizers, and promotes biological diversity. As a result, organic cotton farming is a methodical approach to preserving ecological diversity while ensuring a steady yield and profits. Owing to the drop in premium rates paid for organically grown cotton, the region under organic cotton cultivation is shrinking.

Cotton remains the main source of foreign exchange for Benin. This study aims to contribute to increased yield of organic cotton through the evaluation of the effectiveness of cashew balm as an alternative method of management of carpophagous pests of cotton. The experimental setup consists of Fisher Blocks with 6 objects in 4 repetitions. The objects compared are '' Unprocessed '', the Agri-bio-pesticide dosed at 1 l / ha, two concentrations (1% and 2%) of the hot and cold-extracted cashew balm. Linear mixed or fixed effects models and generalized linear models with mixed or fixed effects were used to determine the influence of the objects on the carpophagous larva and their damage in 2015 and 2016 in Thya to the north of Benin. The number of Helicoverpa armigera larva found in 30 plants ranged from 1.2 (Agri-biopesticide) to 2.3 (Untreated) in 2015. The percentages of green capsules with holes varied by 36.08% (Agri-bio-pesticide) at 53.68% (1% cold-extracted balm) in 2015. The percentages of ripe capsules with holes varied from 32.05% (hot-pressed balm at 2%) to 45.00% (Untreated) in 2016. Seed cotton yield ranged from 229.91 kg / ha (Untreated) to 500 kg / ha (Agri-biopesticide) in 2016. It is noted that Agri-bio-pesticide and the 2% dose of cashew balm, were more effective than that of 1%. The cashew balm is positioned as an alternative to biopesticides used in organic cotton farming.

In this work, conventional cotton was planted with two densities of 8 and 14 plants/linear m, with organic management on certified organic crop land.The results obtained were between 3.8 and 3.4 t/ha, with an average of 12.6 cocoons with a density of 8 plants/linear m and 8.6 cocoons with 14 plants.During the development of the crop, there were no pest insects that affected the cotton.however, two preventive applications of natural extracts of neem, cinnamon and castor were made.

Since 1960, cotton cultivation has experienced considerable expansion in the Koutiala district of Mali. This expansion has not been without consequences on people’s health and natural resources in terms of soil, water and natural vegetation. Based on the analysis of satellite images and a socio-economic survey of production unit chiefs, this study highlights the degradation of soils, biological diversity, population health, and pollution of groundwater and surface water. To reduce these effects, the adoption of good agroecological practices, the organic cotton farming, the reduction of the use of chemicals, and the sustainable management of water and soil are becoming a necessity to ensure sustainable management of environmental resources and the preservation of the livelihoods of local producers.

Organic Cotton Farming in Kutch, Gujarat, India

Summary There is growing concern about declining species diversity in agro‐ecosystems caused by agricultural intensification at the field and landscape scales. Species diversity of arable weeds is classically related to local abiotic factors and resource conditions. It is believed to be enhanced by organic farming but the surrounding landscape may also be important. This study assessed the ruderal vegetation, seed bank and seed rain in 24 winter wheat fields to examine the relative importance of organic vs. conventional farming and landscape complexity for weed species diversity. Diversity was partitioned into its additive components: alpha, beta and gamma diversity. Percentage arable land in a circular landscape sector of 1‐km radius around each study site was used as an indicator of landscape complexity. Weed species diversity in the vegetation, seed rain and seed bank was higher in organic than in conventional fields. Increasing landscape complexity enhanced species diversity more strongly in the vegetation of conventional than organic fields, to the extent that diversity was similar in both farming systems when the landscape was complex. Species diversity of the seed bank was increased by landscape complexity irrespective of farming system. Overall diversity was largely determined by the high heterogeneity between and within the fields (beta diversity). Only in very few cases could higher weed species diversity in complex landscapes and/or organic farming be related to species dependence on landscape or farming system. Synthesis and applications. Local weed species diversity was influenced by both landscape complexity and farming system. Species diversity under organic farming systems was clearly higher in simple landscapes. Conventional vegetation reached similar diversity levels when the surrounding landscape was complex through the presence of refugia for weed populations. Consequently, agri‐environment schemes designed to preserve and enhance biodiversity should not only consider the management of single fields but also of the surrounding landscape.

Cotton is a leading agricultural non-food commodity associated with soil degradation, water pollution and pesticide poisoning due to high levels of agrochemical inputs. Organic farming is often promoted as a means of addressing the economic, environmental and health risks of conventional cotton production, and it is slowly gaining ground in the global cotton market. Organic and fair trade cotton are widely seen as opportunities for smallholder farmers to improve their livelihoods thanks to higher returns, lower input costs and fewer risks. Despite an increasing number of studies comparing the profitability of organic and non-organic farming systems in developing and industrialized countries, little has been published on organic farming in Central Asia. The aim of this article is to describe the economic performance and perceived social and environmental impacts of organic cotton in southern Kyrgyzstan, drawing on a comparative field study conducted by the author in 2009. In addition to economic and environmental aspects, the study investigated farmers’ motivations toward and assessment of conversion to organic farming. Cotton yields on organic farms were found to be 10% lower, while input costs per unit were 42% lower; as a result, organic farmers’ cotton revenues were 20% higher. Due to lower input costs as well as organic and fair trade price premiums, the average gross margin from organic cotton was 27% higher. In addition to direct economic benefits, organic farmers enjoy other benefits, such as easy access to credit on favorable terms, provision of uncontaminated cottonseed cooking oil and cottonseed cake as animal feed, and marketing support as well as extension and training services provided by newly established organic service providers. The majority of organic farmers perceive improved soil quality, improved health conditions, and positively assess their initial decision to convert to organic farming. The major disadvantage of organic farming is the high manual labor input required. In the study area, where manual farm work is mainly women's work and male labor migration is widespread, women are most affected by this negative aspect of organic farming. Altogether, the results suggest that, despite the inconvenience of a higher workload, the advantages of organic farming outweigh its disadvantages and that conversion to organic farming improves the livelihoods of small-scale farmers.

Raising awareness about the benefits of organic food has spurred consumer demand and organic farming practices. However, organic farming often criticized for its lower productivity than conventional farming. Poorly adapted varieties are partially responsible for the lower yields in organic farming. Therefore, it's crucial to identify suitable varieties for organic farming to minimize the yield gap between organic and conventional farming practices. To address this, a field experiment was conducted at Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR)-Central PotatoResearch Institute (CPRI), Regional Station, Shillong, during the kharif seasons of 2020 to 2022. The study evaluated the performance of six potato varieties viz., Kufri Jyoti, Kufri Megha, Kufri Giriraj, Kufri Kanchan, Kufri Himalini and Kufri Girdhari under organic farming. The findings indicated that Kufri Himalini is suitable for organic cultivation, exhibiting the highest total tuber yield (14.44 t ha-1) combined with marketable tuber yield (10.89 t ha-1). This variety has moderate resistant to late blight and medium tuber dormancy. Storage behaviour varied among the varieties.Tubers of Kufri Girdhari and Kufri Kanchan were exhibited excellent keeping quality with long tuber dormancy and minimum storage losses, indicating their suitability for low-cost country storage for six months.