Notícias
Cotton Victoria: documentary showcases the impacts of Brazilian international cooperation on the cotton value chain
- Partnership between Brazil, Burundi, Kenya, and Tanzania has been changing the reality of fiber producers in the region
Coordinated by the Brazilian Cooperation Agency (ABC) and developed jointly with the Federal University of Lavras (UFLA), a reference institution in agronomic sciences and cotton genetic improvement, the initiative is implemented in partnership with the governments of the three directly involved countries—Burundi, Kenya, and Tanzania—with support from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and funding from the Brazilian Cotton Institute (IBA).
In Burundi, key technical institutions for the sector take part: the Cotton Management Company (COGERCO) and the Institute of Agronomic Sciences of Burundi; in Kenya, the Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organization (KALRO) and the Agriculture and Food Authority (AFA); and in Tanzania, the Tanzania Agricultural Research Institute (TARI) and the Tanzania Cotton Board (TCB).
It was with representatives of these institutions that ABC carried out the filming of the project’s documentary in 2024. Filming was also conducted with focal points from the Brazilian Embassies in these countries, who are essential to the project’s monitoring and follow-up.
The film crew encountered different realities, yet all connected by a common thread: the transformative potential that simple techniques can generate in the field, and how they can improve the lives of those who depend on cotton.
Disseminators
As the project’s main strategy, several training sessions were conducted by UFLA professors, who shared low-cost agricultural techniques such as proper spacing, biofertilizer production, pest control, among other simple practices that help boost fiber production. With this new knowledge, local technicians and farmers became disseminators, sharing what they learned within their own communities so that others could also increase their production.
The results shown in the video revealed more than methods: they portrayed the trajectories of growers who, by adjusting crop management practices, began to harvest more, sell more, live better, and plan their lives.
White Gold
Rural properties were also visited in the interior of these countries, where farmers engaged in the project began to see a different landscape—a transformation captured by drones: white fields stretching across the land, visually expressing the renewed strength of cotton farming in the region and highlighting the scale of the project’s impact in action.
A white landscape broken only by the multicolored fabrics worn by women, youth, and men, all united in the harvest of white gold, amid songs, laughter, joy, and a strong sense of community.
After all, those who best convey the meaning of the project are the farmers themselves. Their testimonies appear in the documentary as a synthesis of everything cotton represents in their lives. For them, cotton is money; cotton means children in school; cotton means access to hospitals; cotton means food on the table; cotton means a rooftop; cotton means a brick house; it means a motorcycle; it means shorter distances; cotton is the future. Cotton is a dignified life. Cotton is Victory.
For those of us involved in Brazilian international cooperation for development, this is also the lasting feeling.
Watch the video documentary on ABC’s YouTube channel at this link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aZzp6USE4tg
Learn more details about the results of the Cotton Victoria project in the publication related to the project’s midterm evaluation, available here:
https://www.gov.br/abc/pt-br/centrais-de-conteudo/publicacoes/documentos/relatorio-de-avaliacao-de-meio-termo-portugues-digital