CMIA wants Zambia initiative to help women cotto - sportstextiles: Lea SportsTextiles

News

CMIA wants Zambia initiative to help women cotton farmers across Africa

02/07/2015
An initiative called Cotton Made In Africa (CMIA) has said there is a clear link between its successes in improving the living conditions of smallholder cotton farmers and the advancement of women. “Female cotton farmers do most of the work in the field and in the home and look after the entire family’s welfare,” the Hamburg-based organisation said in a recent statement.

CMIA’s projects in this area have included adapting training in sustainable cotton production to the needs of female participants and training many female cotton farmers to become “lead farmers”, strengthening their role within the training groups.

In addition, women cotton farmers receive easier access to loans and personal contracts with the cotton companies to earn their own income. It is particularly proud of the more than 500 women’s clubs, each with 25-50 members, that it has helped establish in Zambia and has said these should serve as a model for cotton growers in other parts of Africa. They have an elected governing body and plant cotton as well as other crops together. The women reinvest the income they generate as a group, for example in the construction of a warehouse or in education for their children.


Related stories:

Jump in demand for Cotton made in Africa 13/05/2021
Lidl backing boosts Cotton made in Africa 28/01/2021
New cotton association president takes hard line on defaulters 13/11/2015

Sportstextiles.com cannot be held responsible for content if the language setting is changed from English.

The translations provided by Google Translate are automated and therefore might not be accurate and may contain incorrect, offensive or misleading language. We offer this facility as a guide only.