Cotton Initiatives Form a New Partnership to Bring Greater Sustainability to Smallholder Farmers

CmiA focuses on improving the living conditions of smallholder cotton farmers in Africa, while BCI does the same with both smallholders and large producers globally. As both initiatives have a mandate of improving ecological, social and economic conditions in the cotton industry, and share complementary approaches, collaborating made good sense.

The 18-month interim agreement commits the partners to establish “sound structures on both sides, allowing for an optimum exchange of views, ideas and issues of special interest”. Among other things, these special interests cover the fight against child labour, delivering Integrated Pest Management (IPM) more effectively, and developing pragmatic systems to connect supply with demand.

The partnership is already yielding results, as BCI and CmiA are immediately offering an attractive way for BCI members to procure CmiA cotton. As of 1 July 2012, CmiA verified cotton (from the 2012 harvest onwards) can be sold as Better Cotton. Providing an excellent proof of concept, this offer will also appeal to those in the industry who have been seeking greater volumes of Better Cotton from Africa. Christoph Kaut, Managing Director for AbTF, highlighted that this would not only “provide immediate exposure to new markets for CmiA and Better Cotton, but would also lead to greater efficiencies and delivers benefits for the African smallholder cotton farmers”.

The collaboration between BCI and CmiA further defines activities that include an exchange on subjects like impact assessment, verification and financing models. The hope on both sides is that these are the first steps on a much longer journey to bring greater sustainability to the cotton industry.

Lise Melvin, Executive Director of BCI, underlining Africa’s important role in the goal of making Better Cotton a mainstream commodity, promised that “we will always remain committed to ensuring the future of more sustainable African cotton and improving farmers’ lives and their environment”.

Better Cotton Initiative

The Better Cotton Initiative (BCI) exists in order to respond to the current impacts of cotton production worldwide. BCI promotes measurable improvements in the key environmental and social impacts of cotton cultivation worldwide to make it more economically, environmentally, and socially sustainable. Since 2005, the BCI has been working with organisations from across the cotton supply chain and interested stakeholders to facilitate a solution for the mainstream cotton sector. The BCI's philosophy is to develop a market for a new mainstream commodity: ‘Better Cotton’ and thereby transform the cotton commodity to bring long-term benefits for the environment, farmers and other people dependent on cotton for their livelihood.