Better Cotton Initiative debuts in South America

“Among other points, BCI determines that farmers use less water and pesticides, and respect crop rotation to improve soil fertility. Unlike other sustainability certification stamps, the BCI declares itself ‘technologically neutral’ – in other words, genetically modified cotton crops are accepted.

"The decision of not segregating transgenic crops is particularly important, because large producers have already adhered to the technology, for instance, in Brazil, China, India and the United States. What matters are the benefits obtained, we do not go into the issue of the technology the producer preferred”, says Lilly.

“Generally speaking, production management has improved over the last years. In India the use of pesticides has fallen 40%, the use of water went down 20% and productivity increased 20%, according to BCI. In Pakistan they declined by 20% and 38% respectively, with a gain of 8% in productivity.”

“As for Brazil, the general level is far more advanced, and use of resources is rationalized as you would expect in industrial-scale modern farming. However, the drought that hit some producer states and the caterpillar of the ‘Helicoverpa’ species have affected productivity and prevented gains similar to those of the other countries. Due to the plague the application of chemicals could not be reduced”, explained Andrea Aragon. “But the important thing is to know whether the producer is making an effort to improve his performance”.

Vicunha Europe