Summary
In the 2020-21 cotton season, the Better Cotton Initiative (BCI) worked with close to 60 partner organisations to deliver training on more sustainable farming practices to over 2.9 million farmers in 26 countries. Through its programme, BCI reached an estimated one million additional individuals, including co-farmers, sharecroppers, and business partners, who also receive support and training delivered by Better Cotton’s Programme Partners. Of the 2.9 million (2,919,724) participating farmers, more than 2.2 million (2,249,506) in 24 countries received a Better Cotton licence and produced 4.7 million (4,692,809) tonnes of Better Cotton. This represents around 20% of global cotton production. However, this is a 25% decrease in 2019-20 season production volumes, due to a variety of factors, including weather variations, changes in the Better Cotton programme, market conditions, and socio-political challenges.