Industry Report
Debunking those cotton myths W
e all think we know the ins and outs of cotton. We are all led to believe that using organic cotton is better for the environment. But is that really true?
In a report titled ‘Cotton: A Case Study In Misinformation’, the Transformers Foundation and the International Cotton Advisory Committee jointly aimed to debunk four key myths that surround the global production of cotton.
But why does this matter? Well, cotton is the second most produced fibre in the world after polyester, accounting for 24.4% of global fibre production in 2020. It is also estimated that the cotton industry supports the livelihoods of 22 million households across 75 countries. So, it is vital that the statistics reported are accurate and that misinformation is eradicated for this global industry. The report says that fashion has a serious and growing misinformation problem and that outdated figures are widely shared, as is data, without any context. Below are the four key myths and what the report claims is incorrect about them.
Myth 1: Cotton consumes 20,000 litres of water per kilo of fibre This myth’s origins lie in a 1999 report by the World Wildlife Fund titled ‘The Impact of Cotton on Fresh Water Resources and Ecosystems’, coupled with the WWF Cotton page, which from at least 2013 to late 2020 featured a large infographic saying ‘20,000 litres: The amount of water needed to produce one kilogram of cotton, equivalent to a single T shirt and a pair of jeans’.
This myth is not exactly true. According to the ICAC, cotton uses around 1,931 litres of irrigation water to produce 1kg of lint. Globally, cotton uses 6,003 litres of rainwater to produce 1kg of lint. The report carried out its own internal calculations into this figure by consulting with cotton farmers and mills. Findings revealed that 1kg of lint produces approximately one T shirt and a pair of jeans.
| 70 | January 2022
A report published on World Cotton Day 2021 aimed to debunk four key myths about cotton. But what are those myths and why are they incorrect?
22 million households globally are dependent upon the cotton industry
However, the amount of water used fluctuates globally depending on where the cotton is grown. The report says that climate, rainfall and irrigation vary greatly from one country to another. For example, in the US, cotton farmers in the southeast use 234 litres of irrigated water per kg of cotton, compared to farmers in the west, which uses 3,272 litres of water per kg. The report states that global averages about cotton’s environmental impact can be misleading, as they fail to capture huge local variations in resource usage and impacts. While global data can be useful to tell whether cotton’s overall impact is going up or down decade over decade, context and local data are key.
Cotton: A Case Study In Misinformation was published to coincide with World Cotton Day on Thursday, October 7, 2021
Myth 2: 25% of the world’s insecticides are used on cotton Several variations of this statistic are in circulation. Sometimes it’s presented as cotton uses 24% or 25% of all insecticides globally, or 16% to 25% of pesticides. This claim originates from data collected in the ‘80s or ‘90s when cotton’s pesticide and insecticide usage was at its peak. Based on 2019 data from the ICAC, cotton accounts for 4.71% of all pesticides measured as a percentage of total pesticide sales and 10.24% of all insecticide sales. However, the report warns against using
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