Standing Committee on Labour, Textiles and Skill Development presented report on ‘Development of Cotton Sector’ | Current Affairs | Vision IAS
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    Standing Committee on Labour, Textiles and Skill Development presented report on ‘Development of Cotton Sector’

    Posted 08 Feb 2024

    Updated 16 Mar 2024

    2 min read

    • Cotton is an important commercial crop with India being first in the world in area under cotton cultivation. 
      • India is second largest producer and second largest consumer of cotton. 
      • Majorly, cotton is produced in 11 states with Gujarat, Maharashtra, and Telangana having major share. 

     

    • Committee observed that cotton sector faces following challenges:
      • Fluctuating production growth due to cultivation in rainfed conditions (67%).
      • India’s extremely low per hectare cotton yield (447 Kgs/hectare compared to China’s 1993 Kgs/hectare) due to outdated Bt seed technology, whitefly and pink bollworm infestation.
      • Deterioration in soil health due to absence of crop rotation and proper crop residue management.
      • Higher area expansion in less efficient districts.

     

    • Committee recommended that Government should:
      • Come up with an umbrella policy approach for cotton sector linking the activities in all spheres. 
      • Overhaul the cropping system, strengthen market linkages, enhance R&D to develop new cotton varieties, and improve pest management practices.
      • Bring more area of cotton cultivation under irrigation and increasing its productivity
      • Address the problems faced by farmers in procuring the genetically modified seeds by measures like cap on prices, seed development by government entities etc.

     

    Initiatives in cotton sector

    • PM Mega Integrated Textile Region and Apparel (PM MITRA) Parks Scheme
    • Cotton development programme under National Food Security Mission (NFSM)
    • Mobile app Cott-Ally to increase awareness about Minimum Support Price for Cotton 
    • Branding of Indian Cotton as “Kasturi Cotton India” 
    • Project “Targeting technologies to agro-ecological zones-large scale demonstrations of best practices to enhance cotton productivity” under NFSM
    • Tags :
    • cotton
    • initiatives in cotton sector
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