The Fairtrade Cotton Standard was launched more than a decade ago to benefit the farmers at the end of a long and complex supply chain. Over this period, we have succeeded in raising awareness of the problems faced by cotton farmers, empowering and training producers to comply with the Fairtrade Standards and attracted more and more companies in the textile sector to source Fairtrade cotton. Thanks to our efforts, sales of Fairtrade certified cotton is on the rise, increasing by 39 percent during 2016-2017. The number of Fairtrade certified cotton producer organizations has remained stable over the years, encompassing more than 45,000 farmers across eight producing countries.
Those Fairtrade farmers are members of small producer organizations are part of contract production organizations1 in the process of forming independent cooperatives. The highest number of Fairtrade cotton organizations are in West Africa, but the majority of Fairtrade certified cotton is grown in India.