The Aid by Trade Foundation, the largest cotton initiative in Africa committed to integrating cotton originating from Africa into the global textile industry, will now include organic cotton production after successful verification of the Tanzanian cotton company BioSustain by the Cotton Made in Africa Organic Standard.
“The new CmiA Organic Standard will benefit both the more than 9,000 successfully verified cotton farmers in Tanzania, as well as textile companies worldwide, as we are also working on market access for CmiA Organic cotton,” said Tina Stridde, managing director of the AbTF.
Cotton is one of the main sources of income in the poorest regions of rural Africa. Against this backdrop, AbTF is intensifying its commitment to more sustainable production for people and nature with its current CmiA Standard.
The new standard combines the existing European Commission’s EU Eco Standard and the Global Organic Textile Standard with the social and economic criteria of Cotton Made in Africa.
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Cotton Made in Africa is an initiative of the Aid by Trade Foundation that provides assistance in helping people through trade to improve the living conditions of cotton farmers and their families in Sub-Saharan Africa. Currently, smallholder farmers in Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Malawi, Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire participate in the CmiA program. CmiA teaches the cotton farmers through training programs about efficient and environmentally friendly cultivation methods that will help them improve the quality of their cotton, yield higher crops and earn a better income.