Better Cotton is the world’s leading sustainability initiative for cotton. Our mission is to help cotton communities survive and thrive, while protecting and restoring the environment.
In just over 10 years we have become the world’s largest cotton sustainability programme. Our mission: to help cotton communities survive and thrive, while protecting and restoring the environment.
Better Cotton is grown in 22 countries around the world and accounts for 22% of global cotton production. In the 2022-23 cotton season, 2.13 million licensed Better Cotton Farmers grew 5.47 million tonnes of Better Cotton.
Today Better Cotton has more than 2,700 members, reflecting the breadth and diversity of the industry. Members of a global community that understands the mutual benefits of sustainable cotton farming. The moment you join, you become part of this too.
The founding premise of Better Cotton is that a healthy sustainable future for cotton and the people that farm it is in the interests of everyone connected with it.
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Photo credit: Better Cotton. Location: Islamabad, Pakistan, 2024. Description: Better Cotton and the Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry sign Memorandum of Understanding.
Better Cotton Pakistan has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI) to amplify the benefits and accelerate the uptake of Better Cotton across the country.
The FPCCI oversees more than 270 domestic trade bodies relating to national trade and services. Its expertise lies in promoting economic activities and safeguarding the interests of the private sector, which it does through close and constant dialogue with the country’s government.
A key point of this collaboration will be Better Cotton Traceability, which launched in November 2023 after three years of research and development alongside fashion and textile stakeholders.
The FPCCI will support Better Cotton Pakistan in the national rollout of traceability, as supply chains adapt to meet increasing demands for transparency and the requirements of emerging legislation.
Better Cotton will provide training to the FPCCI on its new Chain of Custody Standard, which suppliers that wish to trade Traceable Better Cotton must comply with in order to participate in the product’s chain of custody.
Better Cotton Pakistan will work to accelerate capacity strengthening in the country in order to meet industry expectations and export targets.
In turn, the FPCCI will promote the mission statement and uptake of Better Cotton among its members, communicating the advantages of more sustainable cotton production both at field level and within supply chains.
Earlier this month, Better Cotton Chief Operating Officer, Lena Staafgard, and the Director of Better Cotton Pakistan, Hina Fouzia, joined the FPCCI’s President Atif Ikram Shiekh at an event in Islamabad to formalise the agreement.
This partnership has been forged at an opportune time for Better Cotton Pakistan, as we look to scale the availability of Traceable Better Cotton and in-country compliance with our Chain of Custody Standard. The FPCCI’s trade expertise and relationships with government will be a key lever as we look to advance this area of our work and promote its benefits both domestically and globally.
Photo credit: Better Cotton. Location: New Delhi, India, 2024. Description: Audience at Better Cotton India Annual Member Meeting.
Better Cotton hosted its latest India Annual Member Meeting at the end of February – welcoming around 150 Members and stakeholders from across India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and the United Arab Emirates.
Held in conjunction with global textile expo Bharat Tex, in New Delhi, the meeting gave retailers and brands, civil society organisations, suppliers and manufacturers, spinners, fabric mills and cotton traders the opportunity to connect with Better Cotton, learn about trends and projects guiding the organisation, and network with peers.
A keynote speech from Mithileshwar Thakur, Secretary General of the Apparel Export Promotion Council (AEPC) – part of India’s Ministry of Textiles – set the scene with a focus on the government’s ambitions of advancing India’s cotton sustainability credentials, and its work to increase exports into the global fashion and textile markets.
A series of sessions led by Better Cotton staff followed, with updates on:
Better Cotton’s 2030 Strategy, the India programme and supply chain engagement, by Jyoti Narain Kapoor, Director of Better Cotton’s India Programme
The organisation’s traceability solution, by Manish Gupta, Supply Chain Manager of Better Cotton’s India Programme
Better Cotton’s India Impact Report 2014-2023 results, our approach to data analysis and positive changes on cotton farms, by Vidyun Rathore, Monitoring, Evaluation & Learning Coordinator
The changing legislative landscape and how it’s set to impact members, by Eva Benavidez Clayton, Senior Director of Membership & Supply Chain
Better Cotton’s ambitions to improve farmer remuneration via new financing mechanisms, by Lars van Doremalen, Director of Impact
Member companies and organisations – including IKEA and the Welspun Group – also spoke, highlighting success stories which included the latter’s WelKrishi Programme and its goal to boost uptake of more sustainable agricultural practices among cotton farmers.
This meeting was a great opportunity to update our Members on the projects underway at Better Cotton, the sustained impact we’re having at field level, and the regulations and trends influencing the sector’s direction of travel.
Eva Benavidez Clayton, Senior Director of Membership & Supply Chain at Better Cotton
We are incredibly grateful for the turnout at this year’s Member Meeting. We welcomed representatives from India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and the United Arab Emirates, which is demonstrative of the highly engaged membership base we have within these regions.
Jyoti Narain Kapoor, Director of Better Cotton’s India Programme
By Alia Malik, Chief Development Officer, Better Cotton
This article was first published by Impakter on 8 March 2024
Alia Malik, Chief Development Officer at Better Cotton.
The textile and apparel industries are showing signs of progress on gender awareness and women’s empowerment. Yet, at the start of their supply chains, the cotton sector lags behind. So, for International Women’s Day, Alia Malik asks: How can cotton sow fields of change?
Whether it is used to make classic blue jeans and a tight white T-shirt, or a high thread-count bedsheet and reusable nappies, cotton comes with a production story.
This story starts not in a factory, but in cotton fields and their surrounding communities. At present, it is one in which there are still very few women leads; but, this is a story that can change.
Not a simple numbers game
According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), roughly 31.5 million farmers cultivate cotton worldwide and almost half are women (46%). At first glance, this representation sounds promising, but headline numbers only tell half the story. When we break these totals down by geography, country, role and task, the story gets a lot more complex. It makes a real difference what the actual job is, and where.
Yet, as our 2023 India Impact Report has highlighted, whilst 85% of rural women in India are engaged in agriculture, only 13% own land. The inequality is still plain to see.
Sustainable livelihoods, not just jobs
Much of the vital work women do is low-skilled and low-paid. Due in part to deeply ingrained cultural traditions and social norms that keep them in domestic roles, women face disproportionate barriers and are seldom found in decision-making roles.
Furthermore, in the labour-intensive jobs more commonly done by women, the working conditions are typically worse, with long hours spent out in the field, in the heat. This can mean the women in these roles are not only cash-poor, but time-poor, too.
In response, our ambition at Better Cotton extends beyond basic job counts towards sustainable livelihoods. This means cotton farmers, workers and communities will have the knowledge, skills, power and choice to access the resources they need to sustain or improve their wellbeing, regardless of gender.
Principles in practice, in partnership
So, how do these principles play out, in practice? Well, Better Cotton has set itself a 2030 target of reaching one million women in cotton with programmes and resources that promote equal farm decision-making, build climate resilience, or support improved livelihoods. In all of this, collaboration is key.
By the time International Women’s Day comes around again, we’ll have strengthened existing ties and forged new partnerships with textile industry actors, helping advance our work towards gender equality.
Working with our multistakeholder network on a revised gender strategy, we’ll also have actioned plans to unlock field-level finance. As a traceability win-win, this will reward Better Cotton Farmers for performance around environmental and social sustainability.
Much of this may sound aspirational, but we have already revised our field-level standard to prioritise gender and mainstream inclusive approaches. This is in addition to improving farm labour monitoring that will better equip us to identify and remediate emerging issues.
We want women in cotton to realise their full potential, free from gender discrimination, so that they can participate and benefit equally from training and opportunities in cotton communities. This includes recognition for their work, access to and control over economic resources (like land and credit), and decision-making power.
Driving change through investment
Training makes a tangible difference. Its success can be seen in fields and lives, alike. In Maharashtra, western India, for instance, a two-year gender analysis by Sattva and IDH found that training women in cotton cultivation boosted adoption of best farm practices by 30-40%.
When it comes to personal life stories, though, training can bring about profound change — take the case of Almas Parveen, a 27-year-old woman in Punjab, Pakistan.
Photo Credit: Better Cotton/Khaula Jamil.
Location: Vehari District, Punjab, Pakistan, 2018.
Description: Almas Parveen standing in her cotton field that has been prepared for sowing.
One of four siblings, Almas had been running her family’s nine-hectare farm since 2009, in place of her elderly father. Better Cotton’s local Partner, the Rural Education Economic and Education Development Society (REEDS) was working with her to raise productivity.
As her interest and competence grew, Almas wanted to spread the word, and enable other farmers – both men and women – to benefit from what she had learned. So, in addition to managing her own farm, Almas completed the training with REEDS and qualified to become a Better Cotton Field Facilitator, paid to train other farmers.
Right now, women Field Facilitators remain rare in the Global South. Numbers are up, though, rising from a mere 10% to 15% in India, for example, over just 12 months in 2022.
The total is still small, but the change is not; and, for the likes of Almas, it wasn’t easy. She faced discrimination and opposition from community members, before winning them over. This is women’s empowerment in action. We want women in leadership positions, with representation for their voices to be heard. This is where Almas is now; this is change.
The farmers of Quarterway Cotton Growers – a Better Cotton Licensing Management Partner in the US – have been refining their use of regenerative agriculture techniques for the past 20 years.
They talked to us about what regenerative agriculture means to them and what they’ve learned through their experiences.
In January, Better Cotton India organised its first ever residential leadership workshop for female field staff, with the aim of assessing gender influence and leadership, and examining how the organisation can enhance the overall experience of women in Better Cotton projects.
This year, the annual Better Cotton Conference will be held online and in Istanbul, Türkiye – not just a cultural hub, but the largest city of a country with a rich history of cotton production and textile manufacturing.
The release of Better Cotton’s 2023 India Impact Report has highlighted compelling results for the organisation as it strives to deepen its impact around the world. Here, we speak with Saleena Pookunju, Better Cotton’s Senior Programme Manager in India, to discuss those findings and the outlook for more sustainable cotton production in India and beyond.
Photo Credit: Better Cotton/Khaula Jamil. Location: Vehari District, Punjab, Pakistan, 2018. Description: Almas Parveen, Better Cotton Farmer and Field Facilitator, delivering a Better Cotton training session to Better Cotton Farmers and Farm-workers in the same Learning Group (LG).
By Natalie Ernst, Farm Sustainability Standards Manager at Better Cotton
Natalie Ernst, Farm Sustainability Standards Manager at Better Cotton
How does Better Cotton effectively implement a sustainability standard across two million individual licensed farmers? How can cotton farmers demonstrate progress in areas such as regenerative soil health practices, pesticide reduction, and decent work? How do we know that our field-level training is delivering positive changes?
The key factor that underpins the answer to all of these questions is an effective management system. This not only allows producers to plan and monitor progress, but also helps them to adjust their activities based on their learnings – a key tenet of Better Cotton’s focus on continuous improvement.
As we roll out Better Cotton’s revised Principles and Criteria for next season, this crucial concept of management systems is taking centre stage.
How do we support our partners to carry out effective management?
Under our system at Better Cotton, smallholder and medium cotton farmers are grouped into what we call ‘Producer Units’ (PUs) – groups of between 3,000 and 4,000 farms in smallholder contexts and 20-200 farms in a medium farm context – each with their own central management system and ‘Producer Unit Manager’, the person responsible for managing the PU.
These Producer Units are then further divided into smaller ‘Learning Groups’, each of which is supported by a Field Facilitator. Our Field Facilitators are the front line of Better Cotton at the field level – they carry out training, raise awareness of sustainable practices, visit farmers one-to-one, engage with local community leaders and institutions, and collect critical data on field practices.
When a Producer Unit is established, the staff’s first task is to set up an informed activity and monitoring plan. This plan should cover all areas of our Principles and Criteria, and take into account local priorities and the needs and aspirations of farming communities. Activities are then carried out and monitored according to this plan, and at the end of the season, the PU management and Field Facilitator come together to assess what worked, what didn’t work, and why. Based on these learnings, they can then re-adjust their next year’s activity and monitoring plans.
Our required management systems are comparable to the integrated management systems that companies across various sectors employ. Indeed, Large Farms are generally managed similarly to regular companies, and consequently our management requirements for the large farm context focus on whether a farm’s existing systems enable continuous improvement and learning. These systems should help large farms to track and address non-conformities with our standard, and enable monitoring of impacts on the environment and communities – within and outside their farm’s boundaries.
How does our revised Principles and Criteria drive improvements in management?
In April 2023, we announced the latest revision of our Principles and Criteria (P&C), our field-level standard, which was carried out in order to ensure that the P&C remains an effective tool to drive continuous improvement and deliver sustainability impact.
One of the key changes that we made as part of this revision was to make Management the first Principle in our P&C, recognising its critical function in driving and measuring progress across all areas.
With the updated document introducing new requirements, Producer Units will be asked to place greater focus on establishing relevant and inclusive activity plans and monitoring systems, and ensuring field data is analysed to inform future activities.
Beyond management systems, several other key changes are being introduced as part of the revised Management Principle:
Extensive consultation with farmers and farming communities will now be an explicit requirement, to ensure farmer priorities are better reflected in PU-level activities
We have strengthened requirements around effective and inclusive capacity strengthening. While the P&C always had capacity strengthening requirements, Producer Units will now be explicitly required to ensure capacity strengthening activities cover the locally relevant content and are delivered in an equitable and engaging way to farming households and workers
A specific focus on climate change mitigation and adaptation has been introduced – although related practices (such as reducing fertiliser use, or efficient irrigation) will remain integrated throughout the standard
A greater focus on addressing gender issues has been incorporated, recognising the critical role of women in cotton production. This will include designated responsibilities to consult with farming households and workers, identify gender-related challenges, and implement solutions
There is a broader focus on collaborative action to address sustainability challenges. In the previous version of our P&C, we outlined a requirement for collaborative action on water issues – in the updated P&C, this has been expanded to recognise the importance of working with other stakeholders on any relevant sustainability issue
We look forward to working closely with our Programme Partners to roll out the revised P&C next season and to continue investing in good approaches to support and monitor cotton farmers, and particularly smallholder farmers, at scale.
To find out more about the revision of our P&C, check out the other blogs in this series here.
Photo Credit: Better Cotton/Khaula Jamil Location: Rahim Yar Khan, Punjab, Pakistan. 2019. Description: Farm-worker Ruksana Kausar prepares to plant a sapling with seeds provided to her by Better Cotton and WWF.
By Ashok Krishna, Sustainable Livelihoods Senior Coordinator at Better Cotton, and Heleen Bulckens, Senior Program Manager Materials at IDH
Heleen Bulckens, Senior Program Manager Materials at IDH
Ashok Krishna, Sustainable Livelihoods Senior Coordinator at Better Cotton
With proposed changes to the EU’s much-talked-about Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directivebeing debated, the livelihoods of millions of smallholder farmers could be on the edge of a significant change. The amendments in question would create a legal framework of accountability for EU-based companies, paving the way for smallholders to achieve a living income – a huge step towards creating better livelihoods for smallholders across industries, and particularly for the 90% of cotton farmers worldwide who grow cotton on less than two hectares of land.
Whether or not these landmark amendments are passed, the fact that they are up for discussion is already a sign of progress, as it recognises the role companies play in the socio-economic conditions of those that produce their products. This recognition comes amidst the often complex nature of supply chains where responsibilities are sometimes ambiguously defined.
Fortunately, this legislative trend supports the direction that Better Cotton is taking. Better Cotton has been doubling down on its commitment to sustainable livelihoods, looking at what more can be done within our own programme and through strategic partnerships with organisations such as IDH to improve the living standards of millions working in cotton.
Our Focus on Smallholder Farmers
In Better Cotton’s 2030 Strategy, we set a clear goal: to increase the net income and resilience of two million cotton smallholders and workers worldwide.
While Better Cotton works with farms of all sizes, in the context of our living income work, the focus is on smallholders due to their increased socio-economic and environmental vulnerability. These farmers often grapple with limited access to capital and are at greater risk of negative climate change impacts, which increases the risk of labour rights violations and practices such as child labour.
A New Principle and Approach to Sustainable Livelihoods
To drive progress towards Better Cotton’s 2030 target, we have added a dedicated Sustainable Livelihoods Principle to our revised standard, and we are also developing a comprehensive Sustainable Livelihoods Approach, due to be published in early 2024. This holistic approach will outline the exact steps Better Cotton will take to improve living standards for cotton farming communities and workers, hereby acknowledging that cotton farming systems encompass other crops that also require attention.
The approach outlines actions at three levels – farm, community and structural – and in three dimensions – production, purchasing practices and creating enabling environments. It will help us to unify our stakeholders, create a common language for what we mean by ‘sustainable livelihoods’, and ultimately, drive tangible change across the cotton sector.
Creating a Common Language: What Constitutes Sustainable Livelihoods?
Living Wage
A living wage is the required wage level for a worker to earn a sufficient salary to enable their family to afford a decent standard of living.
Living Income
Living income is the net income that a household needs to earn to enable all members of the household to afford a decent standard of living.
Beyond Living Income
For Better Cotton, living income is the first step towards a desired or prosperous income. This concept draws from IDH’s definition of ‘Better Income’, and encompasses higher income, stable income, and equitable income.
Closing the Gap to Living Incomes in Cotton With IDH
As we work towards realising our livelihoods goals, the partnership between Better Cotton and IDH has been instrumental. IDH recognises that farming should be a pathway to prosperity, not a struggle for survival. IDH collaborates closely with governments, businesses and local communities to promote sustainable value chains, and the organisation has created a Living Income Roadmap which guides companies on how to turn commitments into action. Better Cotton’s plan of action is based on this Roadmap. Better Cotton has also recently joined the IDH Living Income Business Action Committee which will allow us to exchange insights with initiatives in other sectors on living income strategies.
As part of our partnership, IDH and Better Cotton are identifying the living income gap for smallholder cotton farming households in two states in India (Maharashtra and Telangana) where Better Cotton is currently active. The project will also work to strengthen Better Cotton Programme Partners’ awareness of this topic through training.
Time for Action: The Power of Collaboration Across the Supply Chain
Additionally, Better Cotton actively engages in the Living Income Community of Practice, an alliance of partners focused on improving smallholder incomes by increasing understanding of living income gaps and identifying strategies to close them.
Further, we foster dialogue among experts and stakeholders across the cotton supply chain. A recent highlight was the Better Cotton Conference in June 2023, which sparked vital conversations, ranging from yield enhancement to establishing financial support channels for farmers.
At Better Cotton and IDH, we recognise the intricate and long-term nature of our work to increase incomes and create sustainable livelihoods. While there is no ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach, collaborations like these help us to move the needle on this topic.
Yet these conversations are only truly effective if the brands and retailers and other value chain actors that are members of Better Cotton, the farming community, and other local stakeholders, such as governments, are involved. Each stakeholder needs to understand the role that they need to play in supporting closing income gaps. When everyone is at the table, we can pool resources, ideas and solutions and encourage joint investments that ultimately bring us closer to achieving living incomes for farmers around the world.
For more information on the steps that we are taking to achieve living incomes for cotton communities, keep an eye out for Better Cotton’s Sustainable Livelihoods Approach, which will be published in the coming months.
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The Better Cotton Living Income Project: Insights from India
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