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ORGANIC AND NATURALLY PIGMENTED COTTON CULTIVATION IN PERU.
RE-EMERGENCE OF A MAJOR FIBRE PRODUCER
By: James M Vreeland Jr.*
From Department of Anthropology University of Texas, Austin – USA
Organic cotton farming in Peru is as old the plant itself, identified as a primitive
domesticate in archeological sites dating to the Third Millennium BC (Bird 1985;
Stephens 1975; Vreeland 1993, 1999). Cotton traditionally has constituted the largest
crop grown in this country covering as much as 250,000 hectares in recent years.
Between 2.5 and 5% of all Peruvian cotton is still cultivated organically, on an
estimated 3,500 hectares, some 85% of which is concentrated in the high jungle region
of the northeast.
Since Domestication, cotton in Peru has included naturally colored land races that still
survive throughout the country, largely as dooryard crop. All colored cotton is organic,
but accounts for less than estimated 0.25% of Peruvian organic cotton grown annually.
However, only an estimated 562 hectares of all organic cotton is actually certified as
such. A much larger amount, some year surpassing 3,000 ha, is cultivated with
traditional techniques by indigenous or peasant farmers who their raw material or seed
cotton to commercial gins disinterested in organic cotton markets.
Peru is renowned for the high quality of the conventional cotton textile sector serving
large segments of the demand for the fine knits and wovens in Europe, Asia and U.S.A.
(Vreeland 1996, 1997, 2007). With a formidable spinning and weaving infrastructure
and extensive cut-and-sew garments production capacity it’s clear that Peru combines
significant genetic and human resources to sustain an emerging organic cotton fiber
industry, in which it is now a major player.
Several principal reasons can be cited here for Peru pre-eminent status. First, the
Andean region of South America and principally Peru has generally been regarded as
the center of the origin for the cotton species Gossypium barbadense, considered the
finest, longer staple cotton produced commercially today (Wendel, 1995), Second,
cotton can be harvested in many different regions of the country thought-out the year.
Third, the main harvest occurs between April and September, ahead of those produced
in the northern hemisphere. Fourth, relatively high yielding, long staple commercial
and native varieties are available for adaptation to organic farming systems. Finally,
surviving indigenous and traditional peasant framing technologies have remained
largely organic, since to the domestication of the spices 4,500 years ago (Vreeland
1192, 1993).
COTTON VARITIES, COMMERCIAL AND NATIVE
Currently four different cotton verities are cultivated in three different natural color
groups (white, brown and green), representation two distinct botanical species: G.
Barbadense and G.Hirsutum, this latter periodically introduced since the beginning of
the century. Commercial varieties of the species include Pima, Tanguis and Native
rough or “Aspero”· cotton while those of the latter include ”del Cerro”, cultivated in a
very restricted area in the Lambayeque Valley of the north coast. Organic cotton
includes portion of all these varieties, white or off white in color.
“Pima” is an American Indian word given to an extra-long staple verity G. Barbadense
cotton Pima cotton, developed in Pima Country (New Mexico) was obtained from a
naturally pigmented Egyptian from cultivated during the last century, itself genetically
closed related to a northern Peru Peruvian perennial three cotton. In the early 1920s,
Pima cotton seeds were brought to Piura, far north Peru, where its successful
cultivation has been restricted for the climatic reasons to the present.
Native Peruvian cotton are unique with regards to the survival of a wide range of
natural pigmentations in their lumen, including beige, light brown, medium, reddish and
chocolate brown and mauve (Vreeland 1981).
ORGANIC COTTON GROWING AREAS AND CLIMATES
Organic cotton production in Peru is extremely diverse and complex located in regions
of highly differentiated climate, ecology, cultural and historical antecedents, drawing the
attention of the naturalist and botanist since the last century (see for example Spruce
1864). Desert coast farms searching plantation scale contrast with shifting, indigenous
horticulturalist that practice swidden agriculture in the high forest regions of the
Amazon basin.
Most Peruvian cotton is grown on plots raging in sizes from 2 to 5 hectares, arranged
along the coast from Tacna in the south to Tumbes in the north. This region
constitutes the northern extent ion of the Atacama desert, one of the driest in the world.
Characterized as “superarid pre-mountain tropical desert” average annual rainfall
ranges from 0 – 60 mm. and temperature between 19.5 to 30.5 degrees C. Tanguis,
the major certified organic cotton fiber, is grown on the coast from the mid north to the
far south. Pima, the finest of Peruvian cottons, is concentrated in a single department,
Piura, in the far north. Native rough cotton is widely grown throughout the high jungle
on the northeaster region.
COTTON CULTIVATION
Cotton, as with other corps on the coast, is cultivated under irrigations systems, some
dating from prehispanic time. Studies of ancient ridged fields in the northern desert
have yielded fossilized pollen identified to the genus Gossypium, clearly documenting
cotton cultivation in association with foods crops on surfaces totally barren today
(Lostanau 1985). Planting generally occurs from September to February, with harvest
7 to 9 month later.
A second, but much smaller, cotton producing region is located in the northeast
quadrant of Peru, in the Upper Amazon basin, between the Huallaga and Mayo rivers
of the department of San Martin, Marked seasonal rainfall, interspersed with showers
throughout the year, makes cotton cultivation extremely challenging in the humid,
deciduous tropical mountain forest ecology. Indigenous and small peasant farmers
cultivate micro plots that shift over large tract of communally owned, hilly terrain. Here
labor inputs are required not only for the harvest but also for clearing and weeding
small plots, usually three times per growing season. Planning occurs from November
to March, harvested 6 to 8 month later.
DECLINING CONVENTIONAL COTTON FIELDS
Conventional cotton, in terms of area and yield, as well fiber quality has deteriorated
since the implementation of state, enforced agrarian reform laws promulgated in 1970.
Between 1969 and 2007, cotton cultivated areas declined two third from 256,800 to
some 78,000 hectares, with yields of fiber decreasing from about 522 to around 500
kg/ha. This crisis in conventional cotton production of the coast has, in our opinion,
resulted not only from changes in the land tenure, but also from their declining
profitability of the crop in general. Diminished returns can be liked, among other
deficiencies, to poor phytosanitary and pest control strategies, over-reliance on
chemical fertilizers and lack of crop rotation.
ORGANIC COTTON ALTERNATIVES
In this context, farmers committed to cotton cultivation have searched for alternatives in
the coastal region, farmers drawn to, or invited to join organic cotton projects are
generally those with a higher degree of self-sufficiency, a predisposition to take risks in
return for higher economic rewards, and a greater knowledge of biological or integrated
pest management strategies (IPM). Thus it would be misleading to compare the
results of organic cotton yields, with those of the national averages, because it is
presumed that farmers participating in these projects have already achieved higherthan-average yields on their conventional plots. In any case, our research suggest that
yields of organic tanguis cotton fiber are roughly 50-120 percent higher for white
tanguis, the principal commercial cultivar, producing and average of 1056 kg. of fiber
per ha. In a seven-month period, but under 500 kg. on conventional plots.
In part these increases are also due to research and development of the organic crop
system. Pakucho / Naturtex Partners in Lima for example, have recently obtained a
superior long staple with Tanguis cotton in ranging from 2 to 15 ha. Which yield over
tripe the national average of conventional plots, without the loss of quality. Key fiber
characteristics including straple length, fineness and whiteness, of Pakucho organic
Tanguis cotton are actually better than any commercial cotton of the same variety so
far reported on an industrial scale from Peru.
ORGANIC COTTON YIELDS
Due to the severe climatic effects of “El Niño” in 1997, all cotton yields for that year
were devastated and thus considered representative, The estimated 479 metric tons of
certified organic fiber represents only about 1% of an estimated 48,000 mts of the total
Peruvian cotton crop in 1997. Most (about 88%) of white coastal cotton is of the
tanguis variety the remainder being extra long staple organic Peruvian Del Cerro and
Pima fiber, both just coming under organic certification. However, due to the climatic
fluctuations in 1997 caused by “El Niño” bringing unusually heavy rains and heat to the
north coast region, yields of both conventional and organic long staple cotton fell far
below those expected in normal years. It should also be noted that, that due to the
rusticity and primitive character yields of naturally pigmented and white native “Aspero”
or “Rough” varieties in the jungle, are about the third those of organic tanguis and two
thirds of conventional tanguis cotton on the coast.
ORGANIC CERTIFICATION
Peruvian cotton production and textile processing currently are inspected by four major
certification organizations, based in Holland (UC/Skal), Switzerland (SGS), Sweden
(KRAV) and USA (OCIA), Production in all zones is inspected, as are gings, spinning
and weaving mill, storage and processing facilities. Two major organic cotton
programs currently organize production and transformation on the coast and high
jungle both under full organic classification. The largest program, centered in the
Cañete Valley with a recent intend to operate in then jungle area, permits cultivation
methods nor acceptable by IFOAM standards. More promising coastal projects are
now in the process of formalizing inspection contracts under more rigorous organic
production regimes.
POTENTIAL ORGANIC JUNGLE COTTON PRODUCTION
Some 3,500 metric tons of Aspero or Rough cotton, both white and naturally colored,
are produced annually in the Peruvian high jungle. All Rough jungle cottons are grown
under organic production regimen mostly by peasant or Indian farmers. However, only
an estimated 5% to 15% of jungle cotton is certified annually as organic. The
remainder is sold as conventional cotton for industrial applications due to its extremely
rough quality.
Nevertheless, this rich source of organic production remains largely unexploited, due to
both logistical and qualitative restrictions. Yet jungle cotton represents a socially and
environmentally efficient alternative to the illegal cultivation of the coca plant. Which
the drug cocaine as synthesized.
Since 1986, the Native Cotton Project of Peru, under the co-direction of the author and
a compact team of Peruvian social and agricultural scientist has highlighted the
importance of reviving naturally colored and organically cultivated jungle cotton for
emerging ecological textile markets. In the early 1990s, colored cotton fiber production
was unwisely stimulated by NGOs with no technical or market orientation, but with
significant external financial support. Severe overproduction forced the Peruvian
government to intervene from 1995 to 1997, subsiding the purchase, transformation
and sale of naturally colored jungle cotton.
Neither the public sector nor NGOs have been concerned with promoting organic
production methods or preserving traditional jungle life ways, causing some confusion
in the marketplace and with local peasant farming communities.
Nonetheless, large quantities of uncertified, organic brown cotton fiber have been
commercialized by the State through regional agricultural bureaucracies. In 1997 the
cotton was blended with synthetic fiber, spun and knitted up into sweatshirt and pants
by thousand of micro garments manufacturers across the country. The government
began to distribute and estimated half million such uniforms gratis to youngsters in
1998 representing by far the largest single naturally pigmented organic cotton clothing
blending program worldwide.
The resuscitation of interest in organically cultivated and naturally pigmented cotton
invited future research on the question not only why it nearly disappeared from
Western use half a century ago, but also how this unique cotton fiber resource can be
sustainable reutilized in today’s fashion-driven, cost conscious and value laden apparel
markets.
Bibliography
Will follow in final draft
1 November 2007, Lima, Peru
James M. Vreeland, Jr is a north American anthropologist with the PhD program of the
Institute of Latin American Studies of the University of Texas, Austin, and founder of
three organic fiber and textile companies in Peru, Agroindustria Pakucho, Peru
Naturtex Partners and Colca Trading Company, now the oldest continuously Skal
certified company in the world and the first company in the Americas to be Fair Trade
certified in textiles.