T
hehistoryoftheResponsibleBra-
zilian Cotton program started in
2005 with the Mato Grosso State
Cotton Producers’ Association
(Ampa), through the Social Cot-
tonInstitute(SNI).In2009,Abrapadeveloped
the Cotton Production Socio-Environmental
Program (CPSP), engaging other states, thus
expanding the sector’s sustainability pillars
across theCountry. In2010, Abrapaand state
associations joined the Better Cotton Initia-
tive (BCI), global cotton sustainability pro-
gram, and began to operate as partners to-
wards its implementation inBrazil.
The unification of the SNI and CPSP
protocols entailed the launch of the ABR
Program. In 2013, the ABR expanded the
evaluation bases with the incorporation
of environmental criteria, thus improving
the certification process of the production
units. “In the same year, the harmonization
of the ABRwith the BCI evolved to a bench-
marking agreement, joining our best sus-
tainable practices with the excellence of a
global program strongly linked to the cot-
ton supply and commercial chains.
Brazil and Abrapa became strategic BCI
partners”, recalls Abrapa president Arlin-
do de Azevedo Moura. Currently, the Coun-
try is the biggest supplier of BCI cotton in the
world, with a share of 25%. In the 2015/16
growing season, 81% of Brazil’s production
was certified by the Brazilian Association of
Planted Forest Producers (ABRAF), and 71%
waslicensedbytheBCI.Forthefuture,theof-
ficial has it that the idea is to continue with
the improvement efforts, whilst updating the
checkingandcertification lists, basedonBra-
zilian labor andenvironmental legislation.
Other directives include the creation
and follow-up on the economic indica-
tors that make the production of sustain-
able and profitable cotton viable, besides
the adhesion of new farmers and their re-
spective productive units in the states that
aremembers of theprogram. Furthermore,
the goal consists in attracting new strate-
gic partners, both national and interna-
tional, who are able to lend support to the
productive sector on different fronts, thus
broadening the access to domestic and for-
eign markets, ensuring the origin and pro-
duction in compliance with Brazilian social
and environmental legislation.
About 12 years ago, the first
environment-orientedinitiativesintheproductionof
cottonstartedtobeputintopracticeintheCountry
Awalk towards
thefuture
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