Wear a Smile with… Miriam Muhindo

16.09.2019

When we think of climate protection, a few things generally spring to mind: We should fly less to cut CO2. Also, if we eat less meat, less land will be needed to produce animal feed. The way that people use land does indeed have an enormous influence on the climate. That is why the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has dedicated a special report to this subject. The report states that people are already using around 70 percent of the world’s surface area (excluding areas covered in ice). They are using these areas to grow food, animal feed, and textile fibre, to manage forests, and to produce energy. If we take a look at how this generally occurs, a worrying picture emerges: Valuable forests are being cut down, for cattle grazing or to grow oil palm, for example. Not a nice image! For this reason, when we use valuable land, we should do so in the most sustainable and environmentally friendly way possible.

What can we do as consumers? A lot—for example, we can be more environmentally aware when we buy food and clothing.  Is it really time for a new T-shirt? And if so, where does it actually come from? How is the cotton in the T-shirt grown? A huge proportion of cotton harvested comes from monocultures in Brazil and the United States—gigantic machines and poisonous defoliants are used in the process.

Luckily, there is another way. About a million smallholder farmers from eleven African countries are currently being trained in sustainable and efficient cultivation methods by Cotton made in Africa. Growing cotton ensures the livelihood of many African smallholder farmers and their families. CmiA cooperates with certified cotton companies on the ground. Trained cotton company staff teaches the smallholder farmers how they can grow cotton in a way that is as kind as possible to the environment, and which methods can help them to use their resources efficiently. “Before CmiA, I used to plant the cotton haphazardly, but now I know about good agricultural practices says Miriam Muhindo, a cotton farmer from Uganda. Miriam has learnt valuable expertise about cotton growing in the agricultural trainings. This has allowed her to increase not just her harvest, but also her income. “I now consider early land preparation, early planting, proper plant population, early weed control and proper pest control for improved yield”, she explains.

Gentle pest control, natural rainfall rather than irrigation, and using crop rotation for soil fertility—that is what smart and sustainable land use looks like. This is how things can be done if we want to protect the environment and the climate, and also buy a new T-shirt sometimes.

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