Agriculture has a huge impact on the environment and is a major contributor to global climate change. Food systems produce one-third of global greenhouse gas emissions and directly provoke water scarcity, freshwater pollution, soil degradation, deforestation, and more. Agriculture not only causes these issues but is also affected by them.

Sustainable agriculture implies environmentally sound agricultural practices that allow crops to be grown without harming humans and natural systems. It involves avoiding negative impacts on soils and water, does not threaten biodiversity, and does not harm the workers themselves or the people living on the surrounding land.

Sarob promotes the implementation and development of various sustainable standards that capture the three dimensions of sustainable production: environmental, economic, and social.

 

Transformation to an Innovative and Green Cotton Sector

Since 2013, SAROB has been working with Better Cotton to implement the Better Cotton standard in Tajikistan, aiming to:

  • Develop and implement more sustainable, water-efficient farming practices.
  • Promote a gender-friendly environment and safe working conditions for seasonal cotton pickers.
  • Support local cotton growers in accessing global markets for sustainably produced cotton.

Why Better Cotton?

Better Cotton is the world's largest cotton sustainability program. In Tajikistan, Better Cotton and Sarob Cooperative have been working together since 2013 to promote sustainable cotton production. Better Cotton is recognized in both the public and private sectors as the only organization with the global reach and reputation required to incentivize national-level change in the cotton sector.

In the 2023 cotton season, 1,500 Better Cotton licensed farmers in Tajikistan produced almost 18,000 tons of Better Cotton. Better Cotton Farmers achieved 15% higher yields than other farmers by using high-yield cotton varieties, better soil preparation, water efficiency, and best practices in applying pesticides and fertilizers. They used 16% less water. Their knowledge of the Better Cotton Standard System also helped them minimize the effects of climatic issues such as heavy rains, mudflows, drought, and sharp temperature fluctuations mid-season.

Result of Better Cotton farmers in Tajikistan

Promotion of Fairtrade standard

From the 2024 season, Sarob began developing sustainable cotton farming through the introduction and piloting of the international standard Fairtrade in combination with Better Cotton.

A Fairtrade certification is a product certification within the market-based movement of fair trade. Fair trade is a strategy for poverty alleviation and sustainable development, aiming to create greater equity in the international trading system. It creates social and economic opportunities through trading partnerships with marginalized farmers and craftspeople in developing countries, making their products more accessible to customers and ensuring they receive a favorable deal. In return, the producers must comply with the standards set by the certifying authority.

Fairtrade is a global movement that seeks to improve conditions and local sustainability for farmers and workers, especially those in the developing world. It ensures that farmers and workers are safe, have good working conditions, and are treated fairly. Fairtrade helps combat injustices by requiring businesses to pay sustainable prices (never below market value) for the products produced by those in their supply chains. This fairer pricing allows farmers and producers in developing nations to regain some power, make their own choices, control their futures, and live dignified, safe, and secure lives.

By committing to Fairtrade farming, ethics, and procurement, businesses can help improve the social and economic well-being of workers across the entire production chain. Consumers can be assured, when they see this label, that working conditions and workers’ rights have been considered.

There are a series of Fairtrade standards that have been developed. Core standards must be met to be certified Fairtrade.

  • Ensure that producers receive prices that cover their average costs of sustainable production.
  • Provide an additional Fairtrade premium, which they can invest in projects to enhance social, economic and environmental development in their areas.
  • Allow producers to access pre-financing where this is required.
  • Set clear core criteria and developmental goals to ensure that all Fairtrade certified products are socially and economically fair as well as environmentally responsible.

There is a growing demand in the market for a combined standard such as Better Cotton plus Fairtrade, and requests have been received from buyers. It is also possible to integrate Fairtrade with Better Cotton since many of the requirements in both standards overlap. As Sarob has already achieved good results with Better Cotton, it began implementing the Fairtrade standard alongside it in cotton production. In the 2024 season, Sarob organized a Smallholder Producer Group in the south of Tajikistan, in the Yovon district.

 

Introduction and Promotion of GLOBALGAP Standard

GLOBALGAP is a private sector body that sets voluntary certification standards and procedures for good agricultural practices. The focus of GLOBALGAP is on food safety and traceability, although it also includes some requirements on worker safety, health and welfare, and environmental conservation. GLOBALGAP is a pre-farm gate standard, meaning the certificate covers the process of the certified product from before the seed is planted until it leaves the farm. It should be noted that GLOBALGAP is purely a private standard.

The GLOBALGAP standard requires that producers establish a comprehensive control and monitoring system. Products are registered and can be traced back to the specific farm unit where they were grown. GLOBALGAP rules are relatively flexible about field practices such as soil fumigation and fertilizer usage, but there are strict regulations about pesticide storage and pesticide residue limits. Additionally, it is important to record and justify how the product was produced, so detailed records must be kept about farm practices.

The basis for the promotion of the International Standard Global G.A.P., considering growth of agricultural exports from Tajikistan, is the possibility of access to alternative markets with high purchasing power. The Government has already created National Technical Working Group (NTWG) in MoA with involvement state agencies and private sectors to study and implement the International Standard Global GAP in Tajikistan. One of the main activities of NTWG is to support the state authorities’ stakeholders’ authorities to harmonize local standards with the international standards. From the private sector SAROB is the member of this group.

Cooperative SAROB has prepared two Global GAP certified experts, who graduated GLOBALGAP Academy courses in 2021.

Regenerative agriculture

Sarob has extensive experience on promoting and implementing conservation agriculture through the capacity building activities and organization of demonstration plots with using conservation agriculture techniques. Also Sarob is one of the founders and member of Regional Alliance on Conservation Agriculture in Central Asia (CA).

Conservation Agriculture (CA) is acknowledged to maintain and improve soil health and ecosystem services, and thus is a key element to ensure agricultural production and food security under climate change and increasing world population. FAO developed and described the concept of CA that comprises the practical application of the following three interlinked principles: 1) minimum soil disturbance, 2) permanent soil cover, and 3) crop species diversification, in conjunction with other complementary good agricultural practices of integrated crop and production management.