Better Cotton, one of the world’s largest cotton sustainability initiative, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Tajikistan’s Ministry of Agriculture to reinforce their partnership and further support the production of more sustainable cotton across the Central Asian nation.
The MoU was signed by Better Cotton’s Director of Fundraising, Rebecca Owen, and Tajikistan’s Minister of Agriculture, His Excellency Qurbon Khakimzoda, at this week’s Tajikistan Investment and Development Forum, in London.
With increased collaboration, the pair will prioritise the expansion of more sustainable cotton production, with a focus on both environmental and social outcomes. Notably, improving the quality of cotton fiber, farmer wellbeing and overall agricultural sustainability are in scope.
To achieve this, the MoU established that Better Cotton and the ministry will develop a strategic roadmap for more sustainable cotton production in Tajikistan, according to the Better Cotton Standard System, considering the requirements of the global market.
The collaboration will see both parties conduct outreach and awareness activities across the country to promote the benefits of what Better Cotton considers more sustainable growing practices, whilst the adoption of practical innovations will be explored to determine how domestic farmers can improve.
Fundamental to this shift will be the availability and allocation of financial resources. As such, Better Cotton will work with the ministry to identify new sources of funding and investment that can unlock new opportunities across the country’s cotton sector.
Better Cotton’s programme in Tajikistan has already shown results. In the 2012/2020 cotton season, synthetic fertiliser use among Better Cotton Farmers was 62% lower than Comparison Farmers, whilst yields were 15% higher.
In Tajikistan, 93% of land is mountainous, but even with such rugged landscapes, the agricultural sector plays a critical role in the country’s economy. In fact, cotton supports more than half of its rural population.
The country already hosts 1,057 licensed farmers, it produces 14,000 tons of better cotton harvested on 14,000 hectares of land.
Tajikistan is the first country in Central Asia to work with the Better Cotton Initiative. Since gaining independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, significant liberalisation and partial privatisation has taken place in the cotton sector, including privatisation of the ginning sub-sector, liberalisation of input prices, privatisation of financing and marketing of cotton, restructuring of cotton farmlands and partial privatisation of cotton farms through collective land tenure.
Tajikistan is still relatively unknown in the global cotton market, and Better Cotton’s Implementing Partner, Sarob, a cooperative of agronomists that provide agricultural advice and support to cotton farmers, is engaging with other stakeholders to boost demand for the country’s more sustainably grown cotton and further support its cotton farming sector.
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