Cotton made in Africa
Cotton made in Africa (CmiA) is an initiative of the Aid by Trade Foundation (AbTF) based in Hamburg, which helps people to help themselves through trade and thus contributes to the fight against poverty in Sub-Saharan Africa . The initiative claims to make cotton cultivation more ecologically, socially and economically sustainable.
The foundation was established in 2005 by the Hamburg entrepreneur and Chairman of the Otto Group Supervisory Board , Michael Otto . It is supported and promoted by private and public partners, including non-governmental organizations and companies, who purchase CmiA cotton for a license fee per volume.
The initiative
The foundation aims to improve the social, economic and ecological living conditions of small cotton farmers and their families in sub-Saharan Africa. Sustainable and efficient cotton cultivation methods are to be promoted in accordance with a separate standard. In the target countries, strategic partnerships, a demand alliance and the Cotton made in Africa certificate are to be established in order to give African cotton an "appropriate appreciation" in international trade and to increase the demand for African cotton in the sales markets.
The initiative aims to activate market forces instead of using donations: A demand alliance of international textile companies established by CmiA buys sustainably produced cotton and pays a license fee to the foundation for being able to advertise with the certificate. In 2012, on the one hand, over 20 textile companies, for example Puma , C&A , Rewe Group , Tchibo , Engelbert Strauss , s.Oliver and the Otto Group , and on the other hand around 475,000 smallholders from the countries of Ivory Coast , Mozambique and Malawi took part , Zambia and Zimbabwe participated in the program. In 2012, 20 million textiles with the label were sold worldwide.
With the license income, the foundation finances not only the administrative fees incurred, but also agricultural training courses in sub-Saharan Africa, in which smallholders can learn efficient and environmentally friendly cultivation methods according to the CmiA verification criteria in order to improve harvest yields and thus their disposable income. In addition, business management training courses (“Farmer Business Schools”) are financed, which provide smallholders with simple business management skills. Together with corporate partners, cotton companies and the public sector, the foundation also invests in projects that, for example, improve the school infrastructure in the project regions or support women's cooperatives.
The board of trustees, chaired by Michael Otto, is made up of leading personalities from environmental organizations, the public sector and business internationally. An advisory board of the Aid by Trade Foundation made up of representatives from international textile companies, the African cotton companies and state and private funding organizations advises the initiative with expert knowledge.
CmiA standard
The foundation's own standards set sustainability criteria, the implementation of which is regularly checked and the implementation of which you must continuously improve.
The organization checks whether the promises to help small farmers and their families in Africa lead a better life on the one hand and to make cotton cultivation more environmentally friendly on the other, have been kept. For this purpose, criteria were developed together with the Dutch University of Wageningen , the auditing company PricewaterhouseCoopers and the African cotton companies. The inspection begins with the cotton companies. At the beginning of the cooperation, these companies must make a voluntary commitment to comply with the CmiA criteria. The self-disclosure of the cotton companies is compared with random surveys of the farmers. In addition, external experts carry out inspection visits.
The controls are completed by a catalog of criteria that has a two-stage structure and is checked every two years by an independent organization (AfriCert and EcoCert): It contains exclusion criteria that determine whether smallholders and cotton companies can even participate in the initiative. These minimum requirements include the exclusion of slavery, human trafficking, exploitative child labor (according to ILO Conventions 138 and 182) or the deforestation of primary forests . The ban on the use of dangerous pesticides and the use of genetically modified seeds continues to apply .
In addition, CmiA smallholders and cotton companies must observe a number of so-called sustainability indicators such as measures to maintain soil fertility , crop rotation or plant protection methods based on the damage threshold principle. These criteria do not all have to be met 100% from the start, but smallholders and producers must develop plans for improvements and demonstrate that they are increasingly meeting these guidelines better. Compliance with the indicators is assessed according to a traffic light system with "red", "yellow" or "green", whereby green stands for sustainable management.
Helping people help themselves
In on-site training courses, African smallholders can learn about resource-saving and efficient cultivation methods. With this qualification, the farmers should free themselves from the poverty spiral on their own in the long term.
Strategic alliance
The successful pilot phase (2005–2008) convinced the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation from the USA and the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development to provide funding for a period of four years to support the program as part of the Competitive African Cotton Initiative (COMPACI) from 2009 to expand to more than a quarter of a million smallholders and activities in six different African countries.
The German Investment and Development Company , KfW banking group and the German Society for International Cooperation were commissioned with the implementation . The implementation partners are private cotton companies operating in Africa. Due to the successful first project phase of COMPACI (2009–2012), the program has been continued in a second phase since January 2013 and for a further three years by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the BMZ, the Aid by Trade Foundation and the British Gatsby Foundation promoted. In annual stakeholder workshops, the Aid by Trade Foundation discusses the most important issues and developments with experts and partners from politics, business and society. They take place alternately in Europe and Africa.
Results
Due to the increasing number of farmers involved and the large geographic scope, the initiative has established itself as a major player in the cotton sector in Sub-Saharan Africa. In 2013 around 475,000 smallholders took part in the initiative. With family members, over 3 million people were reached. In 2015 there were already 650,000 smallholders in 10 countries. Including their family members, more than 5.5 million people now benefit. By training the participating smallholders in sustainable cultivation methods, the CmiA-certified smallholders were able to increase their harvest results by an average of 30 percent.
CmiA-certified cotton has a significantly lower ecological footprint than conventionally produced cotton. The last study showed that CmiA cotton saves more than 2100 liters of water per kilogram of cotton fiber compared to the global average and emits up to 40% less greenhouse gases than conventional cotton.
The foundation also participates in building the school infrastructure ( Benin , Zambia and Burkina Faso ) and strengthening women's rights (Ivory Coast, Zambia). In Benin 5 school blocks were built and inaugurated, school buildings were renovated, school gardens were laid out to improve the food supply for the students, 600 scholarships were awarded by the end of 2013 and 20,000 school uniforms were distributed. In addition to investing in primary education, more than 5,000 adults learned to read, write and do arithmetic in an evening school. As part of the project to empower women cotton farmers in Ivory Coast, 12 clubs, each with 40 members, have already benefited from financial start-up aid for economic independence. A total of 26 clubs were identified for financial support, as a result of which up to 5,600 people including family members will be reached through the project (as of November 2013).
marketing
Cotton is traded at average market prices. In order to use the rights to the Cotton-made-in-Africa certificate, a license fee is charged from the sales partners for the cotton, which is reinvested in the African project areas.
CmiA is designed as a quality feature and is used and advertised by brand providers as an "additional quality" for the respective product.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ http://www.cottonmadeinafrica.org/de/ueber-uns/die-stiftung
- ↑ Project goals ( memento of the original from April 13, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. : Source: CimA
- ↑ CmiA project countries ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Source: CmiA
- ↑ CmiA facts ( Memento of the original from December 3, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF; 318 kB) Source: CmiA
- ↑ Fields of activity of Cotton made in Africa ( Memento of the original dated February 5, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Source: CmiA
- ↑ Criteria of the Cotton made in Africa standard ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Source: CmiA
- ↑ Cotton made in Africa & Compaci Stakeholder Conference 2013 on ftt-online.net
- ↑ Study: Life Cycle Assessment of Cotton made in Africa (CmiA) (PDF, 3.0 MB)
- ↑ Foundation stone laid for measuring the success of Cotton made in Africa UmweltDialog , September 5, 2011.
- ↑ Cotton made in Africa: From the niche to the mass market ( Memento of the original from December 3, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF; 903 kB) World Economy and Development , October 2013.
- ↑ textile chain ( Memento of the original from April 26th, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. : Source: CimA
- ↑ Cotton made in Africa on Oeko-fair.de
- ↑ "Cotton made in Africa" on Umwelthauptstadt.de
- ↑ “Cotton made in Africa” in Brigitte.de
