Mozambique developing its own national standard for sustainable cotton

Mozambique to revitalize its cotton industry is now developing its own national standard for sustainable cotton production, which will mirror the principles and criteria developed by Better Cotton Initiative (BCI).

The Mozambique government has partnered with the BCI. The 2014 strategic partnership agreement was signed by the Cotton Institute of Mozambique (IAM) and BCI embeds the Better Cotton principles and criteria within Mozambique’s national regulations for cotton growing.

This agreement will ensure that cotton grown in Mozambique by BCI licensed farmers can be sold as certified Better Cotton on international markets.

It marked the first time that a national government adopted the Better Cotton standard, and put Mozambique on course to become the first country to produce 100 percent Better Cotton.

Once the new national standard is developed, the verification and licensing process is expected to be transferred from BCI to IAM, according to a recent case study released by ISEAL Alliance, the global association for credible sustainability standard. Both BCI and IAM are currently training and developing certification bodies based in Mozambique to carry out the external third-party audits.

The BCI Standard is embedded within this national-level standard and verification process, BCI will recognize Mozambique cotton through a ‘benchmarking’ agreement.

The new standard will also include additional sustainability criteria related to the parts of cotton supply chain not covered by the BCI standard.