Globalization, Cotton and Poverty South of the Sahara

Abstract

<p> This study details the historic relationships between cotton and poverty in Africa south of the Sahara. It assesses the impacts that nongovernmental policy advocacy and corporate social responsibility have had on the factors that impoverish Africa's cotton producers. The new nongovernmental and corporate interest in the conditions of life on Africa's cotton farms has increased the likelihood that rising numbers of families that depend on cotton will endure fewer impoverishing relationships. Even so, there is little to suggest that the linkages between cotton and poverty will be eradicated in the present era of globalization should present trends hold. Nongovernmental advocates have contributed to narrowing the debate on Africa's cotton problem at the World Trade Organization even as they have successfully encouraged multilateral, bilateral and nongovernmental donors to scale up their efforts in this issue area. Similarly, many corporate social responsibility initiatives have targeted only certain aspects of poverty and have embraced light-touch approaches to 'doing' responsibility. That said, evidence from Tanzania indicates that a certified organic cotton production operation there has established a parallel governance structure that has effectively reduced poverty and empowered agriculturalists.</p> <p> The international political economy approach developed below adds value to the available literature on African cotton. It treats poverty as a multidimensional phenomenon and embraces a non-economistic treatment of globalization to produce a broader understanding ofpoverty and the factors that are maintaining or alleviating aspects of it in the contemporary world economy. The way of knowing about cotton and poverty presented here is inductive and also historicist, and relies upon field research and case studies. This contribution adds a comprehensive global level of analysis to the literature on Africa's cotton problem, and also prescribes possible policy options that could be relevant in Tanzania and elsewhere.</p>