#cotton sector

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USD$ 615 Million notified for 209 projects worldwide.

Benin, Burkina faso, chad and mali are the co-authors of the 2003 wto cotton sectoral initiative. COTTON 4 (C-4).

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Major producer and exporters.

(Million tonnes)

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Foster sustainable trade policies.

Discussions on cotton at the WTO

At the WTO, cotton is the sole commodity discussed separately following an initiative launched by the Cotton-4 in 2003. The initiative aims to make international trade in cotton fairer and to shed light on the linkages between trade, cotton and development.

Discussions on cotton at the WTO focus on:

achieving reforms needed to address trade-distorting subsidies and to provide improved market access for cotton and cotton-related products from LDCs

monitoring and encouraging development assistance to the cotton sector in developing countries through Sand dissemination of information.

For more information, please visit: www.wto.org/cotton

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Cotton and Decent Work.

Key message for World Cotton Day 2023.

Cotton & decent employment

The sustainable development of the cotton sector can create employment opportunities for youth and women at all stages of the value chain, while ensuring decent work for all.

We must engage the multilateral system to allow fairer opportunities for developing countries to trade their cotton, so farmers can earn a fairer living.

We must assist countries in creating new income opportunities, especially for farmers, by adding more value to cotton fibre and developing by-products from other parts of the cotton plant.

Cotton is more than a commodity, and the cotton to clothing value chain is more than transforming fibre into apparel or home textiles. It is a way to address wider development concerns to promote decent jobs and environmentally friendly, sustainable, and fairly priced products.

Work alongside producers to empower women, boost youth employment and contribute to reducing climate change, while adding value to the fibre and by-products.

The cotton sector contributes significantly to the economies of many developing countries and to the livelihoods of millions of rural smallholders worldwide.

We all need to work together to eliminate child labour, address the challenges of environmental degradation, overuse of water and smallholders’ poverty in the cotton sector.

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Adding more value to cotton fibre and developing by-products from other parts of the cotton plant.

Greater investments are needed to expand the sector beyond raw cotton production and create new income opportunities, especially for farmers, by adding more value to cotton fibre and developing by-products from other parts of the cotton plant.

[worldcottonday]

Empowering women and boosting youth employment, while ensuring decent work for all.

The cotton sector at all levels of the value chain represents a way to address wider development concerns to empower women and boost youth employment, while ensuring decent work for all.