ETC to build organic cotton supply chain

ETC India, a subsidiary of ETC International of Netherlands, is focusing on building a Fair Trade Organic Cotton Supply Chain (FTOCSC) in the country by linking farmers with processing industry, garment factories and with both domestic and international markets.

With this broad objective in mind, the non-profit consulting firm launched an Organic Cotton Programme (OCP) in the country last year. So far, 405 farmers have been enrolled in the programme, who are producing organic cotton in an extent of 1,352 acres of land spread over five rainfed districts in the Telangana region of Andhra Pradesh and two rainfed districts in the Vidharbha region of Maharashtra.

According to OCP team leader, Arun Chandra Ambatipudi, another Netherlands-based international development organisation, Solidaridad, has joined hands with ETC to implement the three-year OCP in the country.

The State Bank of India has entered into an agreement to provide credit to the farmers at an interest rate of 8.25 per cent. The programme also has funding support from the Netherlands government.

"The major focus for the next three to five years will be on building FTOCSC. We are also consulting mutually-aided cooperative societies and other organisations in this connection," Ambatipudi told Business Standard.

He said that Rajalakshmi Mills of Kolkata was currently supporting farmers by purchasing cotton and marketing it in the US and Europe. Last fiscal, over 100 tonnes of lint cotton was sold at a premium of Rs 200 to Rs 250 per tonne over the prevailing market rates. The produce of non-cotton crops cultivated by programme farmers as an inter crop also received a premium price.

Cotton crop is stated to be consuming 60 per cent of all pesticides used in the country. Farmers are also plunging into indebtedness as they are spending huge amounts on inputs. This has led to large-scale suicides and migration by cotton farmers.

Hence, Ambatipudi said, ETC had embarked upon the programme of improving the livelihood options of farming households involved in cotton cultivation. The organisation wants to make farming systems more profitable and sustainable through the formation of an 'Organic Cotton Growers Association' that would be managed and controlled by small-scale farmers in India.

The specific objectives of ETC include establishment of a self-financed organic producers' cooperative or a company, stabilisation of yields, improving profit margins, meeting market requirements, improvement of quality, reorienting policies in support of organic farming and fine-tuning models to support organic agriculture and fair trade in India.

ETC has also established a B2B website for the proposed farmers producers company, which is being updated.