Society & Economy

Fair Planet : Cotton

Fair trade is in fashion. While the worldwide wealth gap between the North and South has never been so marked, a new momentum of solidarity is overtaking Western countries. But what is fair trade? Is it a means of fair distribution of wealth or a new ´marketing´ rip-off? What are the alternatives when faced with no-holds-barred productivity to avoid producer countries getting poorer and a deterioration in the environment? Through three practical case studies, we shall see how some producers can still make the most of what they have.

White gold is what rural dwellers from Mali, the world´s number one producer, called cotton before it became a source of submission to the world market, leading to poverty and devastation of the most fertile lands. To this heavy burden, the threat of GMOs is now added. In order to exist, Malian rural dwellers are putting up resistance with the help of the civil partnerships and men and women who still believe in Africa, like Aminata Traoré, the former Malian minister of culture, and Franck Merceron, director of Swiss NGO Helvetas, who is supporting a program of organic, fair-trade cotton.