Better Cotton, Uzbekistan Collaborate to Strengthen Cotton Standards

The Better Cotton Initiative (BCI) is reaffirming its support for Uzbekistan’s cotton sector.

This week, the global non-profit program that makes cotton farming more sustainable, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Uzbek Agency for Technical Regulation (Uzstandard Agency) to help strengthen agricultural standards in the country.

The agency is a government body that is responsible for regulations and quality controls on domestically produced and imported goods in Uzbekistan.

Through the agreement, BCI and the Uzstandard Agency will support national technical working group discussions, exchange methodologies surrounding field-level best practice and certification and integrate BCI’s Principles & Criteria (P&C) into relevant national standards.

P&C is structured around six principles and two cross-cutting priorities, which together shape the requirements for more sustainable cotton production. Principles cover management, natural resources, crop protection, fiber quality decent work and sustainable livelihoods. Cross-cutting priorities focus on gender quality and climate change mitigation and adaption.

The organizations said it will also explore the possibility of establishing a nationally owned cotton sustainability standard that could then be benchmarked against BCI’s own. The partners emphasized how the standard would enable the agency and its collaborators to directly support more sustainable cotton production, while ensuring it aligns with the globally recognized BCI standard.

“Our cooperation with the Better Cotton Initiative represents an important step towards integrating internationally recognized sustainability and social standards into Uzbekistan’s standardization system. Beyond improving product quality and environmental performance, this partnership will support the promotion of decent work, responsible agricultural practices, and greater transparency throughout the cotton value chain – principles that are increasingly valued by international markets,” said Akmal Jumanazarov, director general of the Uzstandard Agency.

The USDA reports that Uzbekistan produces roughly 600,000 to 750,000 metric tons of cotton lint per year, placing it among the top 10 cotton producers globally. Despite its sizable domestic output, Uzbekistan Deputy Prime Minister Jamshid Khodjayev pledged to buy 100,000 tonnes of Afghan cotton during a meeting with Afghanistan’s Prime Minister Mohammad Hassan on Monday.

BCI launched in Uzbekistan in 2022 following assurance from the International Labor Organization that the country had successfully eliminated systemic child and forced labor in its cotton production. In 2024, BCI backed a strategic roadmap created with agricultural and textile stakeholders in Uzbekistan to accelerate the country’s sustainable cotton production.

“As a leading sustainability standards system and certification scheme working with farming communities around the world, BCI is uniquely positioned to support the agency in its mission. We are excited to share our knowledge and experience and learn from the organization to collaboratively strengthen Uzbekistan’s infrastructure,” said Katerina Gorbunova, head of BCI’s Uzbekistan program.