Keeping cotton honest in Burkina Faso

Nestled deep in the agricultural landscape of Burkina Faso is the heart of Africa’s organic cotton industry. Here, business is booming, thanks to the men and women who farm the country’s abundant cotton reserves.

Since we started in 2004, we have never had any problems selling the cotton – we have always been able to sell everything that we have produced,” says a farmer, a smile stretched across his face longer than the three Volta rivers combined.

This is evidenced each and every day by the men and women involved in Burkina Faso’s organic cotton trade. They’re constantly working, harvesting the cotton fields, washing the cotton, weaving it and preparing it for sale. Demand for organic cotton has soared in Europe and the USA, with the fashion industry taking an immediate liking to the organic produce.

The men and women, who have sweated long hours in the African sun, work closely with a company called Biotex. Biotex is the first company in West Africa to specialise in the organic colouring of cotton. On a continent renowned for its stark browns and greys, a splash of colour goes a long way in brightening up the landscape. Unlike most colourants, this one respects the integrity of the underlying material.

We have 15 employees at the moment and we have just started a new method of dyeing. We use a new type of certified organic colourant from Europe that doesn’t harm the cotton’s quality,” says one of the Biotex plant workers. This is a major breakthrough for Africa’s organic cotton industry. Quality cotton increases demand for the product, which the farmers are more than happy to meet.

Jean-Luc Fradin owns Biotex, which he started after retiring from European airline service.

This is all biological, my cotton colouring company, and this is a new method that we are using to polish the fabric,” he says, as workers dip the material into buckets filled with liquid.

A sizeable share of the cotton is destined for European markets where it’s sold at a high price.

The farmers see a greater return on their produce, more so than regular cotton farmers because their produce is organic, free of chemicals and of higher quality. Stringent standards are kept to ensure the safety of staff. “We are aware of the dangers of the chemicals. That’s why we wear protection, like masks and gloves. The demand for naturally dyed products is high, that is why we want to focus more on that process,” explains another Biotex worker.

Location has historically been a problem for farmers. Cotton farms are fairly remote and require great distances to be travelled to reach them. This is hard on the farmers, but because of firms like Biotex, who command greater prices than normal cotton, the industry is booming. These farmers have more than enough reason to share their broad grins and smiles.