Organic Cotton Farming in India

About

Soil cultivation with cattle

Smallholder groups in numerous countries of Asia, Africa and South America grow cotton organically. The Maikaal project in Central India has been one of the most successful initiatives in organic cotton cultivation. There is increasing interest in the socially, economically and ecologically sustainable production of cotton. The organic production system might be a promising option for other regions, too. The aim of the project was know more about what organic cotton farming can actually contribute to poverty reduction, and what are the obstacles are to successful dissemination.

Mandated by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), WWF and Remei AG, FiBL analyzed the impact of organic cotton production on the farmers’ livelihood. In field trials and through participatory technology development (PTD) the research team also worked on further improving the organic production system. The insights gained feed into training and extension tools developed within this project.

The project was finalized in 2005. 

Further information

Flyer with description of the research project (150 KB)
Presentation of the research project (transparencies)
Mid-term newsletter organic cotton research project (326 KB)
TV report (in German) ‚Organic farming against indebtedness’, October 8th 2004 (requires RealPlayer, free download)

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Research Results

  • Research Report: The Impact of Organic Cotton Farming on the Livelihoods of Smallholders. Evidence from the Maikaal bioRe project in central India. Eyhorn et.al., October 2005 download (922 KB)
  • Executive Summary of the Research Report (in English, French and Hindi) download english version (233 KB), download french version (260 KB)
  • Research Report: Social Impact of Technical Innovations. Study of Organic Cotton and Low Cost Drip Irrigation in the Agrarian Economy of West Nimar Region. Shah et.al., January 2005 download (2.0 MB)
  • Article: Pepsee systems: grassroots innovation under groundwater stress. Verma et.al, 2004. IWA Publishing
  • Dissertation: Organic farming for sustainable livelihoods in developing countries? The case of cotton in India
    Drawing on 3 years of research on organic cotton farms in central India, this book assesses the potential and the constraints of organic farming for improving rural livelihoods. Further Information and order form (95 KB)

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Extension tools

Within the research project, the following extension tools on organic cotton have been developed:

Organic cotton crop guide

Small version (1.9 MB)
Large version (6.3 MB)
Hard copy

Organic cotton training manual

Text (1.6 MB)
Transparencies (2.8 MB)

Soil fertility training manual

Text (748 KB)
Transparencies (836 KB)

Organic cotton project guide

Small version (496 KB)

Producing Organic Cotton: A Toolkit

CD containing the above documents and other tools for extension.
CD copy

Record keeping tools

record form crops (51 KB)
record form crops example (54 KB)
crop economy (110 KB)

The extension tools and their Hindi translations are also available from ICCOA in India (www.iccoa.org).