WE USE PURE INDIAN ORGANIC COTTON

Ecological cotton cultivation in a nutshell:

* biological pest control
* organic fertilising
* crop rotation
* picked by hand
* social responsibility for the farmers and their families

The portion of cotton in the amount of textile fibre produced in the world is close to one half. It is therefore a very important cultivated plant. The portion of the organic cultivation is however only under a percentage, but the demand and sales for organic cotton has risen strongly over the last years.

Indian Gulab Rubsingh is one of the over 8000 contract cultivators, who produce organic cotton for BioRe. The company is Swiss textile company Remei AG’s Indian joint enterprise. Rubsingh has improved economically after they moved into producing organic cotton in 2004. Chemical farming was found to be too expensive and the harvests were not very good. When using chemical fertilisers, there is a great need for a lot of water. The same concerns pesticides. The substances are expensive and for these, an expensive loan is required.

Organic farming requires only work.  The pesticides are prepared on location from natural raw materials, for example from the neem-tree, okra, onion and chilli etc. Rubsingh consider it important that the organic fertilisers and pesticide materials are safe to use. Villagers have experienced diverse irritations caused by chemical fertilisers. These have resulted in illness and dizziness.

BioRe’s cotton weaving plant in Kasrawad, is India’s first cotton handling agency, which has been awarded the A-8000 standard. The agency holds fast regulated work times, a guaranteed minimum wage and does not utilise child labour. You can read more on Indian organic cotton at www.remei.ch

Source: Helsinki Sanomat/ Science and Nature Editor Riitta Saarinen