Make Cotton Sustainable

NEWS REPORT / WALL STREET JOURNAL, UNICEF

IKEA's Story of Sustainable Cotton Farming And Saving Childhood

IKEA's social development initiatives in India are in full swing and are expanding quickly according to various reports that were published during the visit of Mikael Ohlsson to India.

According to a report in the Wall Street Journal, IKEA CEO Mikael Ohlsson said the company has committed to invest 125 million euros in a variety of projects by 2015. Among the target initiatives: those aimed at sustainable cotton farming to reduce water and pesticide use; prevention of child labor, and women’s empowerment through financial self-help groups.

To carry out its development projects, IKEA is partnering with international institutions and non-profits such as UNICEF, Save the Children, the UN Development Programme and WWF. The goal is for the various initiatives to benefit 100 million Indian children.


According to Mr. Ohlsson said that while IKEA is paying special attention to helping those whose businesses provide key inputs for the furniture company – like Indian cotton farmers – its development programs are “holistic” and benefit many people who aren’t suppliers for the company.

Speaking to the Indian collaboration of the Wall Street Journal, Mint, he said the focus on use of less water, pesticides, chemical fertilizers results in more income for the families, for the farmers. Better health for the people in the industry, which is a very important part.

Currently, IKEA says it has about 60,000 farmers in the programme that is just a few years old. And that has witnessed big, big changes in a very limited time.

A Unicef report talks about the change that has come about since the start of the Unicef-IKEA campaign: Cotton production is painstaking work that requires long hours of cleaning, seeding and hauling water to fields, then standing and individually cross-pollinating each flower by hand before finally plucking every bloom. Often, child workers suffer respiratory and other health problems caused by exposure to pesticides, extreme heat and physical stress. Some are also beaten or sexually abused by employers.

Since 2006, UNICEF and the IKEA Social Initiative have partnered to tackle child labour in India by building public awareness about existing laws that forbid it. The country’s child labour law prohibits the hiring of children younger than 14, but enforcement has been difficult since few children understand their rights.

Alongside the Government of India and non-governmental partners, UNICEF has worked to mobilize a new campaign around Raichur, using posters, television and radio campaigns, street performances, public rallies and other awareness-raising activities to reach hundreds of surrounding villages.

Thanks to funding support from the IKEA Social Initiative, experts are hopeful that by 2011 about 15,000 of the estimated 20,000 working children between the ages of 6 and 14 in and around Raichur will be back in school.

Photo Courtesy: Unicef