africa

Over the last few years, Textile Exchange has deepened its support of organic and preferred cotton production in Africa in a number of ways. This page is where you can access the latest information on these activities.

There are considerable opportunities for growth of organic and preferred cotton production and processing across Africa, and for cross-fertilization of ideas and best practices between and within countries and initiatives. So, too, is there a rapidly growing demand from brands for organically grown fiber, with local to global brands increasing their use of organic cotton year over year. There is huge potential for Africa to capitalize on this, particularly on European companies’ need and desire to reduce their carbon footprint and support more local and sustainable cotton production.

Textile Exchange has found that bringing people together at the regional level from all parts of the supply network is a powerful way to catalyze action by bringing specific regional opportunities into focus, strengthening existing efforts and initiatives, and shaping customized approaches. This is what led to the launch of the Regional Organic Cotton Round Table (OCRT) in Izmir, Turkey, in 2017 and 2018, and again in China in 2019. The first Regional OCRT West Africa was held in Burkina Faso in 2018 – and we are excited to be back in 2020! Read more below.

Textile Exchange’s Pan-Africa Sourcing Working Group was initiated at the 2016 Organic Cotton Round Table in Hamburg, when it was proposed that a group be established to work on the various priorities that had been identified for expanding organic cotton production in Africa and better connecting to supply networks. The group is chaired by Prama Bhardwaj, CEO of Mantis World, and currently has 34 individual members from 23 different companies and organizations with broad industry representation. The ultimate objective of the group is to develop and support the market for preferred/more sustainable cotton produced in Africa. If you’re interested in joining or finding out more about this working group, feel free to contact us at Materials@TextileExchange.org.

In light of the adoption of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in several countries in Africa, Textile Exchange’s Pan-Africa Sourcing Working Group is currently working on a white paper to present the arguments for organic and other non-GM cotton production methods in Africa, and the risks of introducing GMOs. The full white paper will officially be published at the start of 2020, but an abridged version was presented by Marco Paul, Co-CEO of bioRe Tanzania Ltd., on November 27, 2019 at the National Ecological Organic Agriculture Conference in Dodoma, Tanzania. We are pleased to see that the presentation caught media attention and was featured in a popular blog (in Swahili).

The production of organic cotton is increasing worldwide, with Africa – led by Tanzania – growing approximately four percent of the global total in 2017/18. According to Textile Exchange’s latest Organic Cotton Market Report, eight African countries – Benin, Burkina Faso, Egypt, Ethiopia, Mali, Senegal, Tanzania, and Uganda – grew organic cotton in 2017/18. Tanzania is by far the largest organic cotton producing country on the continent, followed by (in order of rank) Uganda, Benin, Burkina Faso, Mali, Egypt, Ethiopia and Senegal.

In total, there were 36,110 organic cotton farmers in Africa (including Egypt) growing 7,335 metric tons of cotton fiber on 68,540 hectares (ha) of land. An additional 2,755 ha were in transition to organic cotton between Tanzania (1,297 ha), Egypt (1,043 ha), and Mali (415 ha). Compared to 2016/17, this represents a 20 percent increase in organic cotton fiber production and a 46 percent increase in certified organic land under cotton production.