The impact of organic cotton farming on the livelihoods of smallholders
Cotton farming provides livelihood for many million smallholders in developing countries. Over the last decades, many cotton farmers have been facing declining cotton yields despite increasing application of chemical fertilizers and pesticides. Increased input costs and decreasing marginal returns have lead many cotton farmers into indebtedness. In order to improve the ecological and socio-economic sustainability of cotton production, several organic cotton projects were recently initiated in Asian, African and South-American countries.