Better Cotton Initiative Touts Gains in Global Impact Report

The Better Cotton Initiative (BCI) said that the farmers who’ve adopted their BCI Standard have made measurable progress in both sustainability and income during their time as members of the organization’s farmer program. The cotton sustainability program released its first Global Impact Report in five years, drawing on field-level data from its member farmers, who represent nearly a quarter of global cotton production.

Among the report’s findings, 69 percent of BCI farmers reduced their use of synthetic nitrogen per kilogram of cotton, and 65 percent lowered their synthetic pesticide active ingredient use per hectare since joining the program. Another 54 percent lowered their carbon footprint, and 52 percent of fully irrigated farms reduced the amount of irrigation water applied per kilogram of cotton since joining BCI, with an average water reduction of 29 percent.

BCI also reported that 59 percent of smallholder farmers in BCI’s program improved their net income from cotton production. And the report also highlighted progress in women’s participation in farming, with 17 percent of field facilitation and producer unit management roles held by women. That’s nearly double the 9 percent rate of woman participation five years ago.

“Data and evidence represent the most important currency with which we operate and form the foundation for all aspects of our work—enabling us to strengthen our impact at field level and building the trust and confidence of the market and stakeholders in BCI cotton,” said Nick Weatherill, BCI CEO. “It also is essential for us to deliver on our core mission and drive advancement of the cotton sector towards a more sustainable future.”

Along with those numbers representing farmer progress since joining BCI, the report also delved into the program’s most recent statistics representing gains for just the 2024-2025 growing season. During that season, 61 percent of participating farmers reduced synthetic nitrogen use per kilogram of cotton compared to the previous season. And 49 percent reduced their carbon footprint year-over-year.

The report also noted that 40 percent of participating farmers reduced their synthetic pesticide active ingredient use per hectare last year, with 34 percent reporting usage of organic fertilizers such as manure. And during the 2024-2025 growing season, BCI Program partners established at least 19,900 demonstration plots and supported 11,000 bio-input or bio-control centers to give farmers access to synthetic pesticide and fertilizer alternatives. BCI has a 2030 impact target of 100 percent of its licensed farmers to have improved the health of their soil.

Among BCI Program farmers, 43 percent reduced their water irrigation usage per hectare and 37 percent reduced the amount of irrigation water per kilogram of cotton produced. BCI requires farmers to optimize water quality and availability across both irrigated and rainfed production systems. During the 2024-2025 cotton growing season, BCI Program partners led water stewardship training sessions, reaching around 690,000 farmers and 175,000 workers, which includes 65,000 women farmers and 77,000 women workers.

BCI pointed to success stories from its partner farmers, such as Samina Khaskheli, a smallholder farmer in a village in Pakistan’s Sanghar district. The 37-year-old farmer has adopted regenerative cotton production practices over the past three years, such as using botanical pest control, composting and bio-fertilizers, resulting in a cost reduction of 15.6 percent.

“BCI is committed to rigorous impact reporting, which gives confidence through diligently collected, interpreted, and disseminated findings drawn from reliable and complete data,” said Iain Gardiner, senior director of impact and development at BCI. “Working closely with farming communities and partners, we have strived for optimized data collection and advanced contextual analysis of the more than 20 million data points we collect each year.

This report is an unprecedented and transformative exercise by BCI, as it creates a first step for future programme delivery and deepened impact, with evidence that supports better informed data-driven decisions and scalable actions.”