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Kastoori Cotton

  • 10 Oct 2020
  • 5 min read

Why in News

Union Minister for Textiles unveiled a brand and a logo for Indian cotton recently on the occasion of 2nd World Cotton Day on 7th October 2020.

  • The branding, Kasturi Cotton, would initially be applicable to long-staple cotton that is grown in India and meets prescribed standards.

Key Points

  • World Cotton Day
  • Cotton
    • Kharif Crop which requires 6 to 8 months to mature.
    • Drought – resistant crop ideal for arid climates.
    • Occupies 2.1% of the world’s arable land, meets 27% of the world’s textiles need.
    • Temperature: Between 21-30°C.
    • Rainfall: Around 50-100cm.
    • Soil Type: Well-drained black cotton soil (Regur Soil) (E.g. Soil of Deccan Plateau)
    • Products: fibre, oil and animal feed.
    • Top Cotton Producing Countries: China > India > USA
    • Top Cotton Producing States in India: Gujarat > Maharashtra > Telangana > Andhra Pradesh > Rajasthan.
    • Four cultivated species of cotton: Gossypium arboreum, G.herbaceum, G.hirsutum and G.barbadense.
      • Gossypium arboreum and G.herbaceum are known as old-world cotton or Asiatic cotton.
      • G.hirsutum is also known as American cotton or upland cotton and G.barbadense as Egyptian cotton. These are both new world cotton species.
    • Hybrid Cotton: Cotton made by crossing two parent strains that have different genetic characters. Hybrids are often spontaneously and randomly created in nature when open-pollinated plants naturally cross-pollinate with other related varieties.
    • Bt Cotton: It is a genetically modified organism or genetically modified pest-resistant variety of cotton.
  • Cotton in India
    • Cotton is an important fibre and cash crop which plays a dominant role in the industrial and agricultural economy of India.
    • India is the largest producer of cotton in the world and the third largest exporter. It is also the largest consumer of cotton in the world.
    • The pest-resistant Genetically Modified (GM) Bt cotton hybrids have captured the Indian market (covering over 95% of the area under cotton) since their introduction in 2002.
    • India produces about 6 million tons of cotton every year which is about 23% of the world cotton.
    • India produces about 51% of the total organic cotton production of the world.

Government Initiatives for Cotton

  • National Food Security Mission-Commercial Crops (NFSM-CC):
    • In the 12th Five Year Plan, under the NFSM, a cropping system approach is being adopted by including commercial crops like cotton, jute and sugarcane.
    • Cotton Development Programme (CDP), launched in 2014-15 is being implemented under NFSM-CC for enhancing production and productivity.
  • Ministry of Textiles in collaboration with Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry has prescribed a certification system for organic Cotton
  • Cotton Corporation of India (CCI) has developed a mobile application called “Cott-Ally” to provide the latest news on weather conditions, the crop situation and best farm practices.
  • CCI has also opened 430 procurement centres in all cotton-growing states and payments are being made digitally to farmers’ accounts within 72 hours.

Cotton Corporation of India

  • CCI was established in 1970 under the administrative control of the Ministry of Textiles as a Public Sector Undertaking under the Companies Act 1956.
  • Headquarters: CBD Belapur, Navi Mumbai (Maharashtra)
  • Role: To undertake price support operations, whenever the market prices of cotton fall below the Minimum Support Prices (MSP) announced by Govt. of India, without any quantitative limit.

Cotton Research

  • The Central Institute for Cotton Research has campuses in Nagpur in Maharashtra state and Sirsa in Haryana state.
  • The ICAR-Central Institute for Research on Cotton Technology is situated in Mumbai.

Source: TH

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