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our impact
02
boosting access to seeds
Ensuring access to quality, non-GMO seed is fundamental to safeguarding the integrity and future of organic cotton. At OCA, we are committed to expanding the availability of diverse, locally adapted organic seed varieties. This ultimately supports climate change resilience to support farmers’ livelihoods and enable the scale-up of organic cotton production globally.
Expanding seed trials and performance data
In 2024, we continued working with our partners in India and Pakistan to test a wide range of seed cultivars in real-world farming conditions. The results are shared with our network of farmers to guide future seed selection and encourage breeders to develop climate-resilient, regionally adapted seeds.
OCA updates its publicly available Organic Seed Performance Database annually, and it now includes detailed insights on 66 seed cultivars. Compiled from more than 300 trials over four years, the database is a practical tool for farm groups and seed producers, helping ensure farmers have access to the most suitable seed varieties for their regions.
These partnerships are essential for a strong, self-sustaining organic seed network in the country—supporting local production and availability of verified non-GM cottonseed. This work is especially critical as we develop in Pakistan and support more farmers in their organic journey.
In Pakistan, 2024 marked the formalisation of seed commercialisation agreements with local non-GMO seed growers and research partners, including Soorty Enterprises, Rural Business Development Centre, 360 AG-Search and Hyacinth Agricultural.
Advancing seed commercialisation in Pakistan
Hear from our Contributors
Hammad Naqi Khan
Director General
WWF-Pakistan
To support the upcoming 2025 seed procurement round, we introduced a new seed supply and testing plan. This included onboarding all OCA Seed Partners to our updated protocols for volume reconciliation, purchasing, distribution, and testing. Ensuring that all players across the supply chain are aligned on non-GMO seed requirements is essential to our programme’s success.
Looking ahead, this onboarding will be followed by three joint planning sessions in early 2025 with seed producers and Implementing Partners. These sessions will help align seed supply with the needs of our Farm Programme and support streamlined operations and traceability.
Building a cohesive seed supply chain
As demand for organic cotton continues to grow, so too does the need for dependable non-GMO seed supply. In 2024, we deepened our collaboration with long-standing seed producers. These partnerships are central to ensuring our farm groups have timely access to high-quality organic seed.
Throughout the year, we also facilitated a two-way exchange of knowledge: field feedback from our Seed Trial Network informed producers’ breeding efforts, while their insights helped us fine-tune our programme delivery.
We continue to call on more Seed Partners to join our mission—working together to strengthen organic cotton seed availability and diversity.
We continue to call on more Seed Partners to join our mission—working together to strengthen organic cotton seed availability and diversity.
Strengthening our collaboration with seed producers
