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The Better Cotton Initiative (BCI) is a global not-for-profit organisation and the largest cotton sustainability programme in the world. BCI exists to make global cotton production better for the people who produce it, better for the environment it grows in and better for the sector’s future.

Western China Update: BCI is suspending its assurance activities in the Xinjiang region of China for the upcoming cotton season (2020-21) based on the recognition that the operating environment prevents credible assurance and licensing from being executed. BCI assurance activities for the last season finished in September. There will be no licensed Better Cotton from Xinjiang next season (2020-21). Learn more here.

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News and Blog

Covid-19 and the Cotton Sector: Adapting and Innovating at Farm Level

Thursday, May 21st, 2020

By Alan McClay, BCI CEO Communities around the globe have been grappling with the Covid-19 shock and its immediate impacts. The after-effects and continued implications of the global pandemic will be felt for some time and the economic outlook appears challenging for at... Read More

Responding to the Covid-19 Crisis: Interview with Ambuja Cement Foundation (ACF)

Thursday, May 21st, 2020

BCI CEO Alan McClay spoke with Chandrakant Kumbhani, General Manager at ACF, a BCI Implementing Partner in India, about how the foundation is working to not only ensure farmers receive training and support for the upcoming cotton season, but also to prepare and equip them to... Read More

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Today is International #BiodiversityDay, a good day to learn about what the Better Cotton Initiative and one of our on-the-ground partners in Pakistan are doing to enhance biodiversity, while promoting gender equality, in cotton farming communities in Punjab.
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Meet Ruksana Kausar.
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Following her parent’s footsteps, Ruksana and her husband Muhammad Azher Hussain Cheema are cotton farmers living in Punjab’s Rahim Yar Khan District, where cotton communities farm the land to survive. Ruksana is also one of 7,000 women involved in a tree nursery project created to support local women to improve their livelihoods (developed by BCI and WWF-Pakistan) and enhance biodiversity on cotton farms in their community.
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By taking part in the project, Ruksana has not only supplemented her income, she and her family have planted many trees on their cotton farm, providing farmworkers with shelter from the hot sun once they have matured. They will also protect cotton crops from strong winds, encourage nature and wildlife to thrive in a healthy, balanced environment, and promote beneficial insects, such as ladybirds, which prey on pests that attack cotton plants.
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Ruksana’s new-found economic independence strengthens her voice in how the family’s income is spent, while supporting her community with a reliable, affordable source of good quality trees for their farms.
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Find out more about the WWF-Pakistan tree nursery project and the impact it’s having on women like Ruksana – Link in our bio 🌿🌱🍃
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📸 @khaula28 Ruksana Kausar, Rahim Yar Khan District, Pakistan. 2019. #BCI #BetterCotton #BCIFarmer #FieldStory #StoryFromTheField #Biodiversity #GenderEquality

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Last week, we caught up with one of our on-the-ground partners in India, Ambuja Cement Foundation, to find out how the foundation is working to not only ensure farmers receive training and support for the upcoming cotton season, but also to prepare and equip them to deal with Covid-19 challenges.
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Click the link in our bio to read the mini Q&A.
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#BCI #BetterCotton #BCIFarmer #FarmingCommunities #Covid-19 #India #FarmerLivelihoods #AmbujaCementFoundation
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📸 @vibhor__yadav. BCI Farmers picking cotton. Gujarat, India. 2019.

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Today is Earth Day 2020, and we would like to take this opportunity to highlight how BCI and our on-the-ground partners are supporting more than 2.5 million cotton farmers to adapt to the impacts of climate change. Amidst the Covid-19 pandemic, existing challenges are intensified, leaving farmers and farm workers more at risk and further impacting their livelihoods.
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Climate change is a real and pressing challenge for cotton farmers worldwide, from the large, mechanised farms of the US and Australia to the millions of smallholders in countries including India, Pakistan and Madagascar. Extreme or irregular weather, prompted by climate change, heightens the risk of poor cotton yields and low fibre quality, with cotton farmers facing risks of increased costs and lower profits, and even loss of livelihoods.
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Read the full post – link in our bio.
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#EarthDay #ClimateChange #BCI #FarmingCommunities #FarmerLivelihoods
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📸 @yuyang_liu_ BCI Farmer Wang Meishuang in her cotton field. Hebei, China, 2019.

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Stories

Promoting Gender Equality: Female Farm-Worker in Pakistan Fulfils Her Dream of Economic Independence

Following her mother’s footsteps, Ruksana Kausar married a cotton farmer when she was young. Like many women in her community — where cotton communities farm the land to survive — Ruksana works hard on her family’s cotton farm, sowing seeds, weeding the fields and picking cotton amid the searing heat of Punjab.... Read More

BCI Farmers in India Form Their Own Farmer-Owned Collective and Improve Their Livelihoods

Balubhai Parmar is helping to lead an enterprising group of BCI Farmers who founded their own organisation — the Somnath Farmer Producer Organisation — putting themselves at the forefront of continuously improving their members’ performance.... Read More

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Better Cotton Initiative

News and Blog

Covid-19 and the Cotton Sector: Adapting and Innovating at Farm Level

Responding to the Covid-19 Crisis: Interview with Ambuja Cement Foundation (ACF)

Stories

Promoting Gender Equality: Female Farm-Worker in Pakistan Fulfils Her Dream of Economic Independence

BCI Farmers in India Form Their Own Farmer-Owned Collective and Improve Their Livelihoods

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Moved to 2 - 4 March 2021 | Global Cotton Sustainability Conference

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