Kastoori Cotton

• 10 Oct 2020

Why in News

Union Minister for Textiles unveiled a brand and a logo for Indian cotton recently on the occasion of 2^nd World Cotton Day on 7^th 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
  
  • Theme for World Cotton Day, 2020: Cotton: The Fibre that Moves Me
  • Launched: By World Trade Organisation in 2019 on the initiative of Cotton-4 (Benin, Burkina Faso, Chad and Mali).
  • In Collaboration with: United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), the International Trade Centre (ITC) and the International Cotton Advisory Committee (ICAC).
• 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 12^th 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.
  
  • It is a central research institute established by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) .
• The ICAR-Central Institute for Research on Cotton Technology is situated in Mumbai.

Source: TH