Better Cotton licenses its first Uzbek farms
Cotton sustainability programme Better Cotton has launched in Uzbekistan, following around five years of on-the-ground piloting by both Germany’s GIZ development agency and the International Finance Corporation (IFC), part of the World Bank.
The most recent data on the 2021 cotton harvest in Uzbekistan from the International Labour Organization and non-profit groups has confirmed that state-imposed child and forced labour in the form of cotton-picking is now entirely absent from the country’s newly privatised cotton sector. Washington, DC-based body the Cotton Campaign, previously responsible for orchestrating a global boycott of Uzbek cotton, subsequently lifted its pledge against use of the fibre last March.
By that time, 331 companies had signed up, including adidas, Nike, Brooks Running, Columbia Sportswear, New Balance, Eddie Bauer, Patagonia, Reebok and VF Corporation.
Half of the large farms who participated in the GIZ and IFC pilots, six out of a total 12, have maintained their participation, Better Cotton said, and have been formally involved in the initiative since last year. Each has been trained and tested by third-party verifiers. Although not all obtained a Better Cotton licence this year, as with all other countries where cotton is grown under the programme, it added that the team remains committed to supporting them in improving their practices.
Better Cotton's chief executive, Alan McClay, praised the “enormous progress” made in Uzbekistan. For the time being, however, the post-gin mass balance chain of custody model otherwise used by the programme will not be applied to any fibre with a Better Cotton licence that has been grown in the country.
Image: Mykola Korzh via Unsplash.
