Mohammed Ahmed's parents possess 75ha in Lower Awash Valley, an area that is known to be fertile and suitable for cotton plantations. His family of pastoralists rented out the entire farm to investors.

Located five kilometres away from the city of Asayita where his family resides, the farm was leased to investors for 2,000 Br a hectare. Mohammed, who lives in Asayita Wereda in Afar Regional State, first worked part-time during the summer for the cotton growers in the area who rented his parents’ land.

While working at the farm, he realised that the investors who rented their land and grew cotton made good money. He then started to think that he could also grow cotton on his parents’ land.

His family did not welcome his plan. They opposed him, saying that farming was not their culture. His mother, especially, told him not to farm the land or grow cotton. His family largely considered farming to be taboo and would result in a curse.

This did not stop him. Six years back, he stepped into farming and planted cotton. His elder brother tried to sabotage his farm and partially damaged it. Mohammed worked hard day and night to cultivate his cotton. He watered it sufficiently and cared for it properly.

He sold the first harvest for 110,000 Br. His family abruptly changed its tune after seeing the revenue Mohammed earned. He shared the money with his parents and siblings, creating joy among his family members.

Then the family gave him all the farmland to grow cotton, and he started helping himself and his family with the income he received from the farm. Until 2017, growing cotton resulted in excellent returns.

However, things changed three years back, and he has been struggling to survive in the cotton production sector. The challenges he started facing are beyond his capacity.

“It's very depressing,” said Mohammed.

The productivity of his cotton farm has declined very significantly. Three years ago, he harvested 2,100ql of cotton or 28ql a hectare. Last year, this number dropped by almost three-fold, and he collected just 11ql a hectare.

Last year his farm yielded  830ql of fibre, which he sold for 1.5 million Br, selling a kilogram of cotton fibre for 18 Br on average.

The productivity of his farm plummeted due to the shortage of bio-chemical inputs such as insecticides, herbicides and fungicides. Limited availability of agricultural machinery, market disruption, low demand for their products, and a limited workforce are additional challenges they face.

He used to go to Addis Abeba looking for these chemicals and inputs. Even if he managed to get these chemicals, they might be very toxic to the cotton crop. Mohammed and his neighbours do not know which chemicals to use, when to use it or how. The chemicals may sometimes expire and result in massive demise of the crop. As a result, he has preferred not to spray chemicals on the cotton plants at all.

“Last year, a friend of mine sprayed an expired pesticide on his 80ha of cotton, and eventually he got five quintals of cotton fibre a hectare,” he said.

Mohammed and the farmers in Asayita Wereda who cultivate 5,000ha of cotton plough the land once a year and sow it with cottonseed after watering the land for one to two months.

“Once you plough the land and you come back to sow the seed," he said, "you find the land infested with weeds, and it makes it harder to prepare it again."

The heavy weeds cover the cotton land after it is already prepared for cultivation, and it is very tough to remove easily. He is spending close to half a million Br to remove the weeds that infested his farmland.

As much as 10ql of weeds cover a hectare of land, and it needs four employees to work for a month and a half to clean the land completely. Mohammed pays 5,000 Br to 6,000 Br a hectare. He was paying 1.5 Br to a daily labourer to clear each kilogram of the weed, but the price of labour has risen four-fold.

Even getting daily labourers is very hard for him. The area is known for having higher temperatures and recurrent flash floods. These have resulted in higher costs for labour and losses of cotton production.

Higher prices for cottonseed and a lack of improved cotton varieties have also weakened the performance of the farmers in the area and retarded cotton productivity. Mohammed buys the seed from brokers for 6,000 Br a quintal.

There is a shortage of agricultural mechanisation machinery such as tractors and combines in the area. Finding fuel is also a problem. There is only one garage in Asayita town that rents tractors - forcing many farmers to compete for a small number of machines.

Mohammed uses oxen to plough the land for 300 Br, a pair of oxen that plough a quarter of a hectare a day. Along with the oxen, he hires two labourers for 120 Br a day.