Four new targets for Better Cotton’s 2030 strategy
Sustainability initiative Better Cotton has announced four new targets to a strategy it already has in place to drive environmental and social improvements for farmers and farm workers by 2030.
New targets it has announced cover soil health, women’s empowerment, pesticides and sustainable livelihoods. These now form part of the strategy alongside an original commitment to reduce by 50% greenhouse gas emissions from each tonne of lint produced under the Better Cotton programme.
Additional detail it offered on the new targets included the goal of increasing the net income of 2 million cotton farmers and farm workers to make livelihoods more sustainable, and the commitment to making sure 100% of Better Cotton farmers achieve improvements in the health of the soil they work on.
In terms of women’s empowerment, the organisation said it would aim to help 1 million women secure equal decision-making rights on cotton farms and to make sure at least 25% of field staff on Better Cotton farms are women who have “the power to influence sustainable cotton production”.
Finally, on pesticides, it said its target was to reduce by at least 50% the use of synthetic pesticides by its farmers.
The Geneva-based organisation said its aim in formulating the strategy and in pursuing the targets was to “galvanise change at the field level in key areas”.
It explained that, with more than 22 million tonnes of fibre produced annually, cotton is one of the world’s most important renewable resources. The sector has the potential to reduce poverty while promoting sustainability, it added.
During the 2020-2021 cotton season, Better Cotton and its network of field-level partners trained 2.9 million farmers in 26 countries on more sustainable farming practices.
