Artistic Fabric Mills and Pakistan WWF Dive into Organic Cotton
Pakistan is the world’s fifth largest producer of cotton, according to United Nations Comtrade data, yet it produces only 1 percent of global organic cotton.
Artistic Fabric Mills (AFM) is joining the growing group of mills that have set out to change this.
More from Sourcing Journal
Carter's is Committed to Using More Sustainable, Traceable Materials
Swedish Luxury Brand Uses Finnish Tech to Banish Bedding Odors
Major Fashion Brands Commit to Deforestation-Free Leather by 2030
Working with the World Wide Fund For Nature (WWF) Pakistan, the Karachi-based company has embarked on a mission to educate farmers in the Barkhan area of the country’s Balochistan region, in the cultivation of organic cotton.
AFM secured and distributed non-GMO seeds, supervised the planting and is now seeing the green shoots of the very first certifiably organic cotton plants. The seeds are planted over the summer months and are harvested in the fall. As part of the project, AFM has pledged to purchase most of the crop then put the rest on the open market.
AFM director Saba Iqbal said planted area has already grown to 8,300 acres from 8,000 acres. Farmers are asking to join the program or increase their participation in it, which is expected to yield 2,000 metric tons of cotton lint the first year, or 12,600 bales.
There are 1,500 families enrolled in the program, each with a small farm measuring anywhere from 5-25 acres. All are in Barkhan, where previously the land wasn’t planted at all.
The virgin soil is perfect for organic farming. No crop history means no pesticides killing creatures like insects, worms and rodents that enrich the soil with a complementary community of organisms to aerate and provide vital nutrients. Farmers in Barkhan alternate organic cotton with organic wheat crops that grow over the winter. Together, the two crops serve as a lab of sorts for teaching farmers how to work with organic fertilizer and navigate the organic certification process.
Participants learn skills related to managing a farm and a household like how to grow a kitchen garden, for example. There is also instruction on harvesting, water usage, and the agricultural supply chain which isn’t yet developed in this region. It is a major producer of natural gas, coal and minerals, not agricultural products.
Several Pakistani denim mills are participating in organic cotton programs in the country. In 2020, Artistic Milliners teamed with WWF Pakistan and other partners by pre-booking organic cotton from the first ginners and farmers. The following year, Soorty launched the Soorty Organic Cotton Initiative to promote organic farming practices in the Balochistan region.
Part of what attracts the impoverished farmers of the region to grow organic cotton is profit. Demand for the product is high, particularly for high-quality fiber with no cross-contamination and a superior long staple. Neighboring provinces like Punjab and Sindh, where most of the country’s cotton is grown, have farms of massive acreage that have been subjected to pesticides for decades. It would take around three to four years to clear out the damage, Iqbal said.
“They would never be able to achieve organic criteria,” she said. “This way, they are producing organic cotton from the beginning.”
Much of the organic cotton is destined for the denim market, but it will also be used in different kinds of textiles. Iqbal noted that the Balochistan region has a robust home goods industry so some of the product will be directed there.
“They are producing home textiles like towels and bedsheets out of organic cotton that right now is imported,” she said. “That will give us another opportunity to work with organic cotton.”
