For a group of women in the Tosagua district of Ecuador, close to the country’s Pacific coast, daily life used to follow the pattern of many farming communities, caring for families, crops and livestock. But for the last five years, the 127 members of the Association of Community Women of Tosagua Canton (AMUCONT) have been at the forefront of Ecuador’s groundbreaking initiative to bring back cotton production to the area. Since its heyday in the 1970s, the crop had almost vanished amid a combination of climate-related factors, pests and global economic trends.

The reintroduction of cotton, with the support of FAO, the Brazilian Cooperation Agency of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ecuador’s Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock, is helping to transform the lives of rural communities, and women in particular as the country’s traditional farmers of cotton, as part of a diversified farming strategy. Modelled on successful experiences in Brazil, the project brings in cotton in rotation with the women farmers’ traditional crops of peanuts, cassava and maize, increasing the community’s resilience and adaptability to climate change. 

Ecuador is just one of seven countries in the region, alongside Argentina, Bolivia, Colombia, Haiti, Paraguay and Peru, which are implementing the +Cotton project. This Trilateral South-South cooperation initiative promotes the sustainable development of the cotton value chain in the region to increase incomes and employment opportunities for family farmers.

This boost to these Ecuadorean women’s incomes has also raised their confidence. "We now feel we are in the driving seat of this enterprise, which is cotton," says association member Melva Ormaza.