Burkina Faso is a major producer and exporter of high quality cotton. It has gone through the experience of large scale planting Bt cotton provided by Monsanto, a GMO variety. Farmers had no much choice given the marketing structure for the cotton crop, its financing and inputs. SOFITEX (a state company) and two smaller private companies dictates what cotton farmers plant. Large scale planting of Bt cotton started in 2008, and by 2009, 128,000 ha of Bt cotton had been planted (1). Seven years later Bt cotton is being phased out after showing a marked decline in fibre quality compared to conventional Burinabé cotton. (1) In 2015 there were street demonstrations in the capital against Monsanto (5). By 2016-17 Burkina Faso, Africa's top cotton producer and the sole West African nation to venture into biotech farming, was phasing out genetically-modified cotton on quality grounds. The world's 10th largest cotton producer, with three to four million of its 19 million people dependent on the cotton, Burkina Faso said it was giving up Monsanto's GM Bt cotton because it had proved uneconomical: love price of the crop, and more expensive inputs. Burkina's Inter-professional Cotton Association, grouping the country's main producers and the national cotton farmers' union, is now targeting "100 percent conventional" production, announced Wilfried Yameogo, director of Sofitex, Burkina Faso's main cotton company. The goverment asked Monsanto to pay for the damage caused, and after some years an agreement was reached in 2017. The events in Burkina Faso have had an echo in India (Andhra Pradesh) where there are also criticisms against Monsanto Bt cotton (3), (4). |
In 2015, some seven years after Monsanto Bt cotton was first commercially cultivated in the country at large scale, a decision was taken to return to conventional cotton.
| Name of conflict: | The retreat from Monsanto Bt cotton in Burkina Faso |
| Country: | Burkina Faso |
| Accuracy of location | LOW (Country level) |
| Type of conflict. 1st level: | Biodiversity conservation conflicts |
| Type of conflict. 2nd level: | Intensive food production (monoculture and livestock) GMOs |
| Specific commodities: | Cotton |
| Project details | In an effort to increase yields, the Inter-professional Cotton Association of Burkina (AICB) began introducing Monsanto's Bollgard II trait into Burkinabe cotton varieties beginning in 2009. Monsanto started getting juicy royalties (although the contracts between Monsanto and various Burkinabé institutions are confidential and the public cannot have access to them). The AICB, which groups together Burkina's SOFITEX and two other cotton companies, and the national cotton farmers union (UNPCB), believes the trait has increased levels of short fibers in its cotton, and reduced the ginning ratio, thus reducing its market value. USS 84 million (2) were claimed by the Burkina Faso goverment from Monsanto due to loses to cotton farmers because of lower prices of Bt cotton (shorter fibre) and more expensive inputs. |
| Project area: | 550,000 |
| Type of population | Rural |
| Affected Population: | 3,000,000 |
| Start of the conflict: | 2003 |
| End of the conflict: | 2017 |
| Company names or state enterprises: | SOFITEX from Burkina Faso AICB, Inter-professional Association of Cotton Producers of Burkina Faso from Burkina Faso Monsanto Corporation (Monsanto Co) from United States of America |
| Relevant government actors: | Government of Burkina Faso Ministère de l'Environnnement et du Cadre de Vie INERA, Institute of Environment and Agricultural Research |
| Environmental justice organizations (and other supporters) and their websites, if available: | COPAGEN Terre à Vie African Centre for Biodiversity Third World Network Foof First Information and Action Network (FIAN) |
| Intensity | MEDIUM (street protests, visible mobilization) |
| Reaction stage | In REACTION to the implementation (during construction or operation) |
| Groups mobilizing: | Farmers International ejos Local ejos Social movements Trade unions Local scientists/professionals |
| Forms of mobilization: | Creation of alternative reports/knowledge Development of a network/collective action Involvement of national and international NGOs Media based activism/alternative media Public campaigns Street protest/marches Participation by Burkina Faso groups in the civil society "trial" of Monsanto in The Hague, October 2016 |
| Environmental Impacts | Visible: Biodiversity loss (wildlife, agro-diversity), Other Environmental impacts Potential: Food insecurity (crop damage), Genetic contamination |
| Other Environmental impacts | Introduced resistance, "need" for more pesticides |
| Health Impacts | Potential: Exposure to unknown or uncertain complex risks (radiation, etc…), Mental problems including stress, depression and suicide |
| Socio-economical Impacts | Visible: Loss of traditional knowledge/practices/cultures, Other socio-economic impacts Potential: Loss of livelihood |
| Other socio-economic impacts | Low prices of cotton (because of bad fibre quality, compared to former breeds), and more expensive inputs. |
| Project Status | Stopped |
| Conflict outcome / response: | Compensation Project cancelled Withdrawal of company/investment |
| Proposal and development of alternatives: | The government and Monsanto agreed to share the monetary loses, but Monsanto did not pay for the whole amount of the estimated liability. A new international solidarity developed between cotton farmers and environmental organizations from Burkina Faso and Andhra Pradesh in India. Particpants from Burkina Faso were active at the Monsanto trial in The Hague in October 2016. |
| Do you consider this an environmental justice success? Was environmental justice served?: | Yes |
| Briefly explain: | For the time being, and at the time of writing (2017), Monsanto Bt cotton has been phased out in Burkina Faso. |
| References to published books, academic articles, movies or published documentaries |
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| Related media links to videos, campaigns, social network |
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| Last update | 18/08/2019 |
| Conflict ID: | 2967 |