LONDON – The world’s largest cotton standard, Better Cotton, will pilot a new wage sampling tool across Pakistan’s cotton sector to capture accurate worker wages and enhance wage transparency. The organisation’s first initiative of its kind, the aim is to gain a better understanding of farm-level wages.
The initiative addresses challenges such as informal labour arrangements, labour mobility, lack of documentation, and the prevalence of piece-rate pay, where wages are based on output rather than time worked. Such factors have made it difficult to calculate accurate farm-level earnings thus far.
The tool will help identify and fill data gaps over time by standardising how Better Cotton collects and monitors worker wages. Initially, it will be rolled out across a quarter of Pakistan’s cotton farms, with ambitious plans to gradually scale up until data representative of the entire country’s cotton sector is captured.
Hina Fouzia, director at Better Cotton Pakistan, expressed a commitment to ensuring workers receive fair and timely compensation. She said enhanced wage data is not only essential for wage improvements but also crucial for fostering sector-wide dialogue on living wages and informing future collective action to empower and protect cotton farming communities.
Sahar Haq, project lead at Better Cotton Pakistan, said Better Cotton will collaborate with its Programme Partners in Pakistan—SWRDO, WWF Pakistan, CABI, and REEDS—which help implement the Better Cotton Standard System (BCSS) nationally.
At SWRDO, CEO Sibtain Akbar Khan said they are focused on ensuring that Better Cotton farmers and workers receive at least minimum wages and fair compensation. By advocating for the implementation of minimum wage standards, SWRDO said it aims to empower workers to understand their rights and confidently demand fair wages.
Upon completing the project in March 2025, Better Cotton plans to explore adapting the wage sampling tool to other smallholder countries. The goal is to define living wage gaps, streamline data collection, and develop action plans.
