Resource January 5, 2017

Meet the Journalists: Meta Krese and Jošt Franko

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Local farmers are seen at the so-called market, a collection center for cotton, in a village near Dano. Image by Jošt Franko. Burkina Faso, 2015.
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From cotton farms in Burkina Faso to sweatshops in Bangladesh and Romania, a story of the real costs...

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Carrying cotton to the collection point in Diongolo, Burkina Faso. Image by Jošt Franko. Burkina Faso, 2016
Carrying cotton to the collection point in Diongolo, Burkina Faso. Image by Jošt Franko. Burkina Faso, 2016

Why are shirts, jeans, and countless other cotton items we use every day so strikingly cheap? What is the secret? The answer is simple. When Paul Timbi Kobassare, a farmer in Burkina Faso, divides the income he gets from cultivating cotton by the number of days in a year, it comes to a bit more than one dollar per day. In Dhaka, Bangladesh, Anowara's workday in the garment industry is at least 10 hours long. In a month, she earns $89.

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