Cotton at the Source Project Gives Cotton Narratives a Much-Needed Boost

You can't tell good stories or even challenge the information status quo enforced by prevalent narratives if you don't know where to start or have an inkling about what's wrong with the incessant flow of disinformation garbage that one is subjected to.

The Media Toolkit ought to serve as a good starting point. The section titled 'Cotton's Broken Narratives' picks up four threads and breaks them down into three segments each: current narrative, main problems with frame, and questions to ask instead. The four threads are: cotton is unsustainable and worse than other fibres; sustainable cotton is bad, too; less or no virgin cotton and more of other fibres is the answer; and, sustainable brands and certifications are the only answer.

If this Media Toolkit were to fall into the hand of well-meaning journalists, it should trigger off a lot of stories from the ground. That's crucial given the assortment of stories that we currently read. 

Most—in fact, an overwhelmingly large number of them—are business stories that appear in the business media or maybe the business sections/pages of mainstream media. Those reports, or even features, are always a desultory set of numbers that are far removed from the ground. Literally. So, what one gets to read are how much production has gone up or down, how the prices are fluctuating, and how much has been imported or exported. End of story. But then that’s what business journalism is: more of business and less of journalism.

In the mainstream media (here, I can only speak about what I see in India), most stories have been about hapless cotton farmers being driven to suicide. The stories, of course, are true and heart-rending. But many of these ground reports only skim the surface, and very rarely delve deeper into root causes. There are many reasons for this skin-deep journalism, but now journalists should not crib that they don't know what the real issues are. They can use this toolkit.

The document is handy, and the section titled 'Reframing Cotton: Holistic Narratives' is just as important, though slightly flawed in that it reads a bit preachy. If I want to do a story on cotton farming, I need not be told what voice to maintain, for instance.

All the subsequent sections come with story ideas and takeaways. This helps. Most journalists—believe me, I have seen this for over 30 years—are either busy or intellectually lazy, sometimes both. There is nothing like a readymade list of story ideas. 

The second document, Stories from the Ground, is what the title says. It is a collection of stories about three fascinating projects: in Benin, Organisation Béninoise pour la Promotion de l’Agriculture Biologique (OBEPAB), supported by Pesticide Action Network UK (PAN-UK); in Brazil, Algodão em Consórcios Agroecológicos by Diaconia; and in India, Scaling regenerative and restorative agriculture practices by Srijan. The Brazilian and Indian projects are a part of Regenerative Production Landscape Collaborative (RPLC) programmes.

These stories about small-scale community projects are significant in the context of the current discourse about sustainability in fashion. As the introduction starts off: “Narratives about cotton have become narrow and simplistic. This booklet aims to showcase the power of community projects for sustainability professionals in the fashion industry. Simultaneously, it encourages media and storytellers to unlock impactful stories by shifting their perspective to view cotton in a broader landscape.” Indeed, it ought to be a #mustread for sustainability professionals. 

There are other aspects that are not covered by the two Cotton at the Source project documents, but are worth pondering over. Some passing thoughts, if I may.

There is a disconnect between the farming and the fashion end of the cotton spectrum. Cotton at the Source does build a bridge there. But there are other disconnects too.

I once wrote a deep-dive piece about the interplay between cotton farming and fashion for a magazine about agriculture. The piece was edited (I mean, butchered) by a journalist with an economics background, as if with a vengeance. It was obvious that the underlying sentiments of the article were lost on her.  Personal grouses aside, it was just as obvious that agriculture experts—certainly, most of them—cannot see cotton beyond the field. They have no idea what happens to cotton as it moves from the fibre stage to yarn and then fabric and fashion. And many of these people come with a conceited head that looks at fashion as something that is intellectually depraved. If one could ignore such people, one would. But these are people who influence/drive policies.

There is another hurdle that one needs to overcome when it comes to writing cotton overviews in India, and I call them the cotton mafia. The first are the cotton associations. My mailbox has scores of emails to cotton associations pitching stories and requesting for interviews. Except for a handful (there are always those few exceptions), most don’t respond. It’s like banging one’s head against a wall, repeatedly. It doesn’t help cotton stories if people who are critical to the cotton value chain keep to themselves. Their cousins are the equally snobbish NGOs. Most don’t respond either. 

The Brits left India 77 years ago, but the fiefs have not gone away. Those have only taken new shapes and forms. The associations and NGOs I allude to are like those fiefdoms. Cotton, to many of these organisations, is like a fief that they never want to relinquish control over. The cotton sector needs to free itself from such Old Boys’ Clubs and condescending activists too.

Just some passing thoughts, as I said. I have more, but let’s put those aside for the moment and applaud the efforts of Cotton Diaries and A Growing Culture. Good job. Do more.