TEXAS – The Organic Exchange has responded to suggestions in a recent magazine article that organic cotton farming in Africa is perpetuating the spread of malaria.

The article, written by Alex Perry and published in Time Magazine, centred on Apac, a Ugandan town which is home to 515,500 people and close to Lake Kwania, essentially a giant swamp and notorious breeding ground for the malaria parasite.

According to Perry, the influence of one of the foreign assistance programmes in the region, the Belgium funded National Wetlands Program (NWP), means that the draining of malarial swamps is banned. The spraying of insecticide, which in 2008 cut malaria infections in half - is also forbidden, with Perry citing objections from Uganda‘s organic cotton farmers as the main reason.

However, David Bennell, Executive Director at Organic Exchange has insisted that the fact that Ugandan organic cotton farmers would coalesce, of their own accord, to attempt to find alternatives to the spraying of DDT in their own homes, was to protect their very livelihood. “That’s an extremely rational approach for anyone struggling to make a living in one of the world’s most poverty and disease-stricken areas,” Bennell said in a statement.

Bennell goes on to say that many African farmers and their supporters believe in the economic development potential of organic cotton agriculture because it is an accepted and accessible model for introducing farmers to best practices in cotton farming (soil fertility, water management, pest management, etc.).

“Because organic is grounded in fundamentally strong farming practices (that have application beyond organic), it has the potential to help farming families move out of extreme poverty and help contribute to their food security (organic cotton farming traditionally includes growing rotation crops that contribute to soil fertility and pest management, and that produce food crops for local consumption),” he said.

Bennell also called for a coordinated effort between the World Health Organization, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and other funders active in the fight against malaria to better address and implement strategies for effective disease eradication, while ensuring farming communities can continue to produce organic cotton and food, where farmers and their communities choose to do so.