While growing cotton at scale, the impacts of growing cotton more sustainably are amplified, especially around climate change mitigation and carbon sequestration. As BCI aims to transform the cotton sector, including all key players in the cotton sector is important. Learn more about how BCI is exploring the landscape approach to strengthen impact.

What is the difference between smallholders, medium farms and large farms?

Smallholders: Farmers who are not structurally dependent on permanent hired labour, and whose farm size does not exceed 20 ha of cotton.

Medium Farms: Farmers who are structurally dependent on permanent hired labour, and whose farm size is between 20 to 200 ha of cotton.

Large Farms: Farmers who have a farm size above 200 ha of cotton, and either have mechanised production, or are structurally dependent on permanent hired labour.

BCI also recognises that due to the scale of production and resources, large farms can be a nest of technological innovation in areas such as reducing water consumption. One example is the use of soil moisture probes that indicate when irrigation is required and can be monitored and managed through mobile apps. Remote monitoring of vast field conditions is worthwhile for farmlands that can spread across 200 hectares of land, but these best practices on large farms also create the opportunity for replication in other contexts and countries. BCI provides a framework to assess the sustainability of large farms to adopt more sustainable practices and the platform to collaborate across farming communities to catalyse change.