Producer Unit
Producer Unit
PUs must be managed by a Producer Unit Manager who is employed and assigned by the IP and have their own Internal Management System. The average number of farmers that must be found in PUs is described below, but there are exceptions to the minimum and the maximum number of farmers, depending on regional conditions.
Small Holders: Groups of Small Farmers, whose field size is smaller than 200 (20 ha) and not dependent on permanent workers (working for 12 months). While the maximum number of farmers to be included in a Small PU is 7.000, the ideal number of farmers should be around 3.500. The number of farmers varies according to regional conditions. For Small PUs only, farmers are divided into sub-groups called the Learning Group (LG).
Learning Group (LG):Because there are large number of farmers in Small PUs, it is the sub-groups where Small Farmers are combined to make training and learning activities easier for farmers to reach. When establishing Learning Groups (LG), usually common points in which farmers can easily be put together are taken into account such as neighborhood, village, district, etc. Each LG is managed by a Field Facilitator (FF) and a Lead Farmer must also be selected from each LG. Lead Farmers help the FFs to transfer information and documents to other farmers in the LG and to other tasks related to farmers. The average number of farmers to be in a LG is 35, and an average Small PU can have 100 LGs. Also, a Field Facilitator can work with up to 10 LGs, which is 350 Small Farmers.
Medium Producer Unit: They are the groups of Medium farmers, whose field sizes are between 200 (20 ha) and 2.000 (200 ha), who are structurally dependent on permanent workers (working for 12 months). Medium PUs does not have a maximum farmer limit. However, the ideal number of farmers that a PU Manager can effectively manage is 100 to 150.
Producer Unit Manager: Responsible for the implementation of the Better Cotton Standard System at the Producer Unit level, providing all the organization in this process and making all necessary reporting to BCI. In the case of need, with the help of IPs, they determine areas where farmers need to develop or support, and support the FF in its work with farmers and workers. Their main roles and responsibilities can be listed as below:
- To participate in training and capacity development studies provided by BCI and IPs, to understand their goals and to educate the FFs (if any) in this respect and to improve their capacity.
- Identifying and assessing deficiencies regarding sustainable cotton production, development points, basic sustainability issues in production areas of the farmers under PU according to the Better Cotton Principle and Criteria - Core Indicators.
- Following the two above articles, establishing an Internal Management System according to the obtained information and evaluation results, conducting and improving this system.
- To enable farmers in PU to produce in more sustainable ways, create, implement, monitor and build a Continuous Improvement Plan in order to address basic sustainability issues (with the support of IP).
- Creating and following PU Information Forms (contains information on PU, farmer, gin, worker), and reporting them to BCI.
- To provide training materials and training for farmers under PU to comply with the Better Cotton Principle and Criteria - Core Indicators, and to improve their capacity for sustainable cotton production.
- To measure, assess and report the effectiveness of the training, the level of adoption of good practices transmitted through the training and the results of the training.
- To conduct Internal Assessment each year and complete the BCI Self-Assessment questionnaire based on this assessment result.
- To attend and contribute to licensing or supervision evaluations conducted by BCI or by the 3. party independent auditors who have been approved by BCI.
- To participate and contribute to the Readiness Checks or PU Support Visits to be organized by the IP.
- Planning and implementing Corrective Actions when impropriety is detected.
- To help farmers keep records of farm inputs and outputs where FF (Field Facilitator) is not available.
- To prepare the Annual Results Indicators Report and to report to BCI.
- To maintain all records, make documentation, report to BCI as requested and at the time within the requirements of the Better Cotton Standard System, Core Indicators and Internal Management System.
- To give License Numbers to the farmers, to keep Better Cotton separated from conventional (traditional, other) cotton on the process from farmer to the gin, and to provide Chain of Custody Requirements for the instructing of farmers on keeping the Better Cotton sale records.
Field Facilitator (FF): Field Facilitators are the staff employed by IP or Local Partners, who work to transfer the Better Cotton Standard System to farmers by establishing direct relationship with farmers under PUs. Their main roles and responsibilities can be listed as below:
- To participate in training and capacity development studies provided by BCI, IP and PU, to understand their goals and to act according to the planned activities.
- To support the PU Manager to group farmers into Learning Groups (LG); to manage the LG.
- To identify and evaluate the current situation and initial practices of farmers who will participate in the Better Cotton Standard System.
- To help the PU Manager identify the farmer's deficiencies in Better Cotton Principle and Criteria - Core Indicators and sustainable cotton production, development points, and basic sustainability issues in production areas.
- To train farmers in line with the annual training plan prepared by the PU Manager.
- To develop capacity, conduct creating awareness activities and participate in other interventions such as pilot trials, so farmers can make continuous progress.
- To help farmers keep records of farm inputs and outputs.
- To follow the adoption and implementation of information and good practices transmitted to the farmer through training, capacity improvement, awareness creation and other interventions; to report to the PU Manager.
- To attend and contribute to licensing or supervision evaluations conducted by BCI or by the 3. party independent auditors who have been approved by BCI.
- To participate and contribute to the Readiness Checks or PU Support Visits to be organized by the IP.
- Perform other roles and responsibilities provided by the PU Manager to conduct and implement the Better Cotton Standard System on site.