The CmiA standard’ criteria encompass environmental, social, and economic aspects of cotton farming and ginning. The standards are based on a two-step verification process.
The first step verifies compliance with exclusion criteria that determine cotton companies’ eligibility for participation in the programme.
If an association is eligible, the process moves on to the second step, which measures performance against the sustainability criteria defined below. Participants are not required to meet these criteria immediately or in full, but they are obliged to make gradual improvements and to document their progress towards sustainable production. A traffic-light system evaluates implementation status by classifying it as red, yellow, or green, with green meaning that the sustainability criteria laid down in the relevant Cotton made in Africa standard have been met sufficiently well to be considered sustainable in the long term.