Bangladesh

The backbone of agriculture, empowering women in the cotton value chain can have positive effects beyond farm productivity, leading to improved living standards and food security, says a new report by CottonConnect.

Researchers mapping the supply chain footprint across four production hubs in Global South  reveal that workers and manufacturers face productivity impacts from extreme heat and flooding, and risk foregoing $65 billion in export earnings by 2030—equivalent to a 22% decline.

Exploiting advances in earth observation and climate data science, a CottonConnect C5 pilot project is exploring how climate advice could help farmer decision-making at key stages in the cotton production cycle.

There is currently a lack of information regarding the materials waste produced across Bangladesh’s textile and apparel industry production chain. And a prerequisite for keeping its buyers as also the market, the country urgently needs to reduce carbon emissions by 2030 using recycled materials.

In a significant export barrier for US cotton to Bangladesh, as well as "saving" the country’s mills time and money, Bangladesh has decided to relax its nearly-five-decade-long fumigation requirement on US cotton imports.

Garments traverse a complex global supply network by the time they reach stores thousands of miles away. Workers are caught in this web, exploited by factory management. Western brands escape the scrutiny of their governments by outsourcing production to low-cost countries and absolve themselves of direct responsibility. This complex system makes it hard to assign ethical responsibility, because everyone, and therefore no one, is guilty.

The RMG industry in Bangladesh has made remarkable progress since the Rana Plaza disaster a decade back. But, ground truths almost always are hard ones. And although much aid/relief has poured into the country since, it still leaves half of the survivors of that tragedy crying for justice. Clearly, something is amiss. A texfash.com analysis.

Multilateral government oversight of working conditions (at the point of production) combined with further regulations encouraging ethical supply chains (at the point of import), may be a more effective way to reduce the chances of another Rana Plaza.

The Bangladesh textiles industry before and after the Rana Plaza disaster is a different story. While earlier the focus was on capacity building of management teams on productivity, quality, and HR systems aimed at worker welfare, after the mishap the highlight was that the responsibility of making a factory safe does not rest with only the safety or compliance officer. Dr Rajesh Bheda, CEO and Managing Director, Rajesh Bheda Consulting, shares with texfash.com his observations.

What is needed is an international watchdog that puts more pressure on retailers to treat their supply chains fairly is an essential part of the puzzle. Until a regime is in place with genuine teeth to ensure retailers toe the line, the modern slavery behind high-street fashions will only continue.