BCI supports push to strengthen cotton standards in Uzbekistan

The Better Cotton Initiative (BCI) has partnered with Uzbekistan's Agency for Technical Regulation (Uzstandard) through a new memorandum of understanding to modernise the country’s agricultural standards. By lending its expertise as a global sustainability standard, BCI will support national technical discussions, help integrate its principles and criteria into local regulations and share best practices for field-level certification.

“Uzbekistan is undertaking one of the most comprehensive reforms of its national quality infrastructure, with the harmonisation of standards and the adoption of international best practices serving as key priorities of our modernisation agenda. The cotton and textile industries are strategic pillars of our national economy, contributing significantly to employment, industrial development, and export growth,” commented Uzstandard’s director general Akmal Jumanazarov in a press release.

Partnership to establish cotton sustainability standard

A primary goal of the collaboration is exploring the creation of a nationally owned cotton sustainability standard that benchmarks against BCI's global system. This alignment ensures local producers can directly implement sustainable agricultural practices while maintaining compatibility with international market expectations.

“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,” added Jumanazarov.

Uzbekistan is one of the world's top cotton growing countries, after China, India, Brazil, USA, Pakistan and Australia. The cash crop is cultivated across nearly one million hectares of land, more than a quarter (28 to 30 percent) of the country’s total irrigated cropland, and yields 3.5 to 4 million tons of raw seed cotton per year.

Thus, cotton serves as a vital foundation for the rural economy, providing employment for nearly 2 to 3 million pickers and farm workers during peak season annually. Together with its downstream textile industries, cotton accounts for around 40 percent of Uzbekistan's total agricultural production value.