A Dollar a Day: The price of cotton
Story Access to markets
In The Price of Cotton,filmed in Mali, we meet small cotton farmers in Mali and second-generation cotton farmers in Texas who all worry about the gathering international storm around cotton subsidies.
About the A dollar a day series
A dollar a day is six-part international series that shows what it means to live under the poverty line. While many people recognize that surviving on a dollar a day is a struggle, very few understand the nature of poverty. In addition poor people are often not recognized for the creativity and resourcefulness they possess. The six episodes of the series revolve around themes, respectively – access to capital, access to markets, access to jobs, access to health care, access to basic needs, access to good governance.
Educational Interest
Each documentary in the A dollar a day series is an excellent resource for individuals and groups that want to learn more about the causes of poverty and what can be done about them.
Social Interest
These programs illustrate that while poor people may lack money, education, security or healthcare, they do not lack creative initiatives, knowledge and willpower. Perhaps the greatest value of this series is that you get to know people who live on a dollar a day. They become real human beings and not just “the poor.” In knowing them you discover that they are not so different from us, because their poverty is largely a result of circumstances beyond their immediate control.
Scenes
Why is the price of cotton so low?
The worldwide price of cotton dropped when cotton started getting sold on the world market. In this clip, cotton farmer Sedou Dembele is talking with another farmer from Mali, Ibrahim Coulibaly. According to Coulibaly, the prices dropped because of the WTO, and the subsidies given to cotton farmers in other countries such as the United States.
Texan organisation Plains Cotton Growers on cotton growing subsidies
Haldenby, an employee of the organization representing Texan cotton farmers Plains Cotton Growers, explains how the subsidies for the US cotton growers come about.
Differences in Mali and US cotton growing
In this clip, the difference between cotton growers from the US and Mali becomes very clear. The history of the cotton farming and selling, the political climate and the living conditions differ extremely.
Globalization, the world market and weary cotton farmers
Even though the countries are very different, in both the US and Mali the globalization and the global market has a deep impact on the local cotton farmers. Here, farmers from both the US ad Mali speak out their fears and anger. Also, a representative from Plain Cotton Growers is inverviewed on the cotton prices and government supports.
Cotton farmer in Mali sacrifices chicken
Because of low cotton prices and difficult farming circumstances, its hard for the cotton farmers in Mali to make ends meet. In this clip, we see farmer Sedou sacrifice a chicken in hope of getting better farming equipment.
US cotton farmers in need of government subsidies
A cotton farmer in Texas, US, explains that when the government stops giving any more subsidies to the cotton farmers, they wont be able to grow cotton.
Idea for cotton farmers in Mali: growing bisap
Growing the seed bissap instead of growing cotton could be a great alternative for the farmers in Mali, according to farmer Ibrahim. He feels that a new farming product would be good for the African continent. This seed is a product of the Hibiscus and can be used to make lemonade.
Cotton harvesting in the US and Mali
This clip shows the immense difference between the harvesting of cotton on farms in the US and farms in Mali. Whereas this work in the US is done with machines, the same work in Mali is labour intensive.
Africa in need for growing cotton
The worldwide overproduction of cotton has caused the price of cotton to drop. According to Ibrahim, a farmer from Mali, the African continent depends on agricultural work in order to survive. Without agriculture, people will reside in making war.
