View from a farmer

摘要

Mrs Martine Okou grows cotton, cowpea, maize, soya, cashew, cassava and yam and keeps chickens on her small farm in the Djidja region of Benin. She converted to organic production in 2000, mainly because of the huge debts she and other farmers accumulated under conventional production and the frequent poisonings suffered by those handling pesticides. She recognises that yield per hectare is lower compared to when she used synthetic fertiliser but appreciates the health security that organic production means for her family and workers, and that the food she grows is safer to eat. Martine described the fair price at which her organic cotton is bought as one of the real benefits for her family from converting their farming system.