Representational image. News18
Since 2019, the world has been celebrating World Cotton Day on 7 October every year. The day is marked with an aim to increase the importance of cotton, from its attributes as a natural fibre to the benefits people get from its production, transformation, sale and consumption. Cotton is considered to be a major source of livelihood and income for many rural labourers and shareholders, including women. It provides employment and income to some of the poorest rural areas around the world. The observance of the day also aims to highlight the importance of inclusive and sustainable economic growth, productive employment and decent work for all.
History
The initiative of World Cotton Day started in 2019, when four cotton producers in sub-Saharan Africa- Benin, Burkina Faso, Chad and Mali, popularly called the Cotton Four, proposed a World Cotton Day celebration on 7 October in the World Trade Organization (WTO).
The WTO hosted the launch of World Cotton Day on 7 October 2019 as an initiative of the Cotton-4 countries. The event was organised by the WTO Secretariat along with the secretariats of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the International Cotton Advisory Committee (ICAC) and the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD).
The launch event was attended by over 800 participants at the WTO headquarters, including ministers, high-level officials, heads of international organisations, Geneva-based delegates and the global cotton community including national growers associations, inspection service providers, traders, development assistance partners, scientists, retailers, brand representatives and the private sector. It was a key opportunity for participants to share knowledge and showcase cotton-related activities and products.
Significance
In the past two years, the World Cotton Day has offered an opportunity to share knowledge and even showcase cotton-related activities.
Since the United Nations has officially recognised this World Cotton Day, it serves as a great opportunity to create awareness about cotton and cotton-related products and how developing countries need more access to global markets to sell their cotton products. It fosters sustainable trade policies and enables developing countries to benefit from every step of the cotton value chain.
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