Lifting People Out of Poverty

摘要

A broad smile spreads across Joseph Mwangi Migwi's face when he looks over the ten acres of farmland that surround him. Joseph Mwangi Migwi has a passion for Kenyan cotton.'Cotton is the crop with the potential to wipe out poverty in this country. Firstly, because it is grown in marginalized areas where many poor people live. Secondly, because it is grown by small farmers, who constitute the majority of the population,' hesays.With support from Sida, the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency, Mwangi Migwi had the opportunity to travel to Thailand to participate in a course arranged by the International Trade Centre (ITC) as part of its Promoting African Cotton &Increasing Transparency in the Cotton Value Chain cotton training programme. This programme is geared towards providing producers in least developed countries (LDCs) with the conditions needed to become competitive and to increase their production of various goods. One of the programme's aims is to provide African cotton farmers with greater knowledge and to allow them to create a network of contacts on the world market. With the help of knowledge, information and facts, farmers like Mwangi Migwi havebeen able to get a much better price for cotton. Better pay also means better food, better education and better health for the families whose livelihoods are in and around the cotton trade.