The Aid by Trade Foundation (AbTF) has developed a new standard for sustainable cotton that helps cotton farmers be more resilient in the face of climate change while helping companies withstand future climate challenges. Called the Regenerative Cotton Standard (RCS), it combines the successful AbTF cotton standards with new approaches to regenerative agriculture and engaging with rural communities.
The focus of the RCS is small farmers and the integration of their agricultural knowledge into production methods that strengthen natural regeneration. The standard combines proven approaches to improving human rights and the environment with ways to adapt to climate change and integrate small farmers while giving a nod to animal rights issues.
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In addition to providing small farming communities with optimal market access, the RCS helps support opportunities for collective, educational agricultural projects. Farmers managing fields according to the RCS guidelines learn to rotate crops, optimize the use of biomass and use cover crops in addition to learning about agroforestry. This regenerates depleted soil, increases fertility and enhances climate resilience.
The new RCS standard gives every stakeholder in the textile chain the ability to meet the growing requirements for reporting on sustainability. It is the Cotton made in Africa’s (CmiA) Hard Identity Preserved system that is behind RCS cotton, whose online tracking system provides transparency up and down the entire value chain.
The cooperation of farmers and their communities involved with the RCS cultivates loyalty to management, making it easier to plan cotton supply. The RCS also offers financial support of their efforts to advise small farmers.
“We are pleased that the Regenerative Cotton Standard will now enrich our foundation’s standard family,” said Tina Stridde, managing director of the Hamburg-based AbTF. “This standard not only promotes the production of high-quality cotton, it is also convincing from a social and ecological perspective. We are already seeing great interest in RCS from both existing and new partners.”
AbTF is the parent of CmiA which launched a satellite surveillance program in Tanzania that tracks growth location and soil quality to help get farmers on an efficient planting schedule to maximize yield. It followed India, which launched a similar program in the spring.
