“An organic cotton t-shirt starts with an organic cottonseed. So, to get that T-shirt, we need to ensure the availability and diversity of quality organic cottonseed for the sector.”

– Bart Vollaard, Executive Director – OCA

On Thursday October 15th 2020, representatives from the entire organic cotton value chain, gathered to share and discuss OCA’s journey to organic seed availability and diversity. The OCA Seed Webinar was hosted by Mathilde Tournebize, OCA Programme Officer – Seed and Innovation and she was joined by two panellists: Dr Amritbir Riar, Project Leader, Seeding the Green Future programme at the Research Institute of Organic Agriculture (FiBL); and Dr. Charu Jain, Senior Advocacy Manager, Materials at Laudes Foundation and Secretary at the Organic and Fairtrade Cotton Secretariat (OFCS), a multi-stakeholder platform and roundtable, advocating for organic cotton farming in India.

The webinar highlighted:

  • OCA’s Seed Strategy and progress made to date

  • The important contributions made by FiBL and OFCS on our shared journey towards organic seed availability and diversity

  • OCA’s roadmap to enrich and expand its work in India and beyond

The cottonseed is the tiniest, yet most crucial input for organic cotton farming and has the power to accelerate the realisation of organic cotton’s full potential for people, planet and prosperity. Since its genesis, OCA has been committed to improving the availability and diversity of quality organic cottonseed in India and we know that collaboration throughout the entire value chain is pivotal to reaching that goal.

This webinar is the first step towards the establishment of OCA’s Seed Network, which aims to unite technical experts, seed producers, farm groups and OCA Contributors in action, to accelerate our progress in our organic seed journey through shared knowledge and engagement.

“As the global organic cotton platform, we want to unite and empower all stakeholders on our journey towards organic cottonseed availability and diversity for the sector. Will you join us?”  

– Mathilde Tournebize, OCA Programme Officer – Seed and Innovation

To find out more, watch the webinar.