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‘Empowering cotton as engine of Indian economy’
Dr Rajaram Jaipuria, Chairman, ICMF -

Cotton is one of the largest and most important agricultural crops of India. However, its importance extends much beyond the agricultural sector. India is one of the few countries which have a strong presence at each stage in the value chain of the cotton economy. From ginning and pressing to garmenting and apparel marketing, cotton makes an extremely important contributing to the economy in terms of industrial production, exports and employment.

More than 85 lakh hectares of land is under cultivation of cotton in India and we produce nearly 160 lakh bales of cotton in a year. India has a strong base of textile mills with an installed capacity of 3.7 crore spindles and the industry employs about 3.5 crore people. Besides, crores of people are engaged directly or indirectly in marketing of cotton, cotton yarn and cotton fabrics both knitted and woven and marketing of innumerable varieties of garments catering to the needs of 100 crore people of our country.

The potential of cotton for assisting the economic growth of the country can be assessed from the fact that it has a share of more than 70 per cent in our fibre consumption as against around 40 per cent share that cotton has in the world consumption of fibres, In cotton yarn, India is now the largest exporter, holding a share of more than 25 per cent of world trade. While India is not a major exporter of fabric, cotton fabrics do have a very high share in our fabric exports. In our garment exports, cotton garments have a share of over 70 per cent, which again is substantially higher than the world average.

In the domestic market also cotton is still the fabric of the masses and the poorer sections of the society, especially in rural areas, rely on cotton for their clothing needs. There is also an increasing market for comfortable cotton in the upmarket segments of the urban society.

I am repeating these well-known facts just to stress that from the point of view of its share in our domestic and international markets and the potential it has for future growth, cotton has a unique place in the economy of India. China and India are perhaps the only two among the major garment exporting countries of the world, that are strong in cotton production. It is obvious that India has a lot to gain by concentrating on the cotton segment of the international apparel markets, rather than relying on the faster growing manmade segment where there are large number of competitors, many of whom are stronger in their fibre base. I am not suggesting that we should not try to cash in one whatever strength we have been able to acquire in manmade fibres and filaments. I am only reiterating that cotton is our strength and it will always remain the mainstay of our textile industry, especially for exports.

In the international markets, cotton has been losing its share in fibre consumption almost steadily in recent years to manmade fibres and more importantly to filaments. However, in the US, concerted efforts by Cotton International to promote the use of cotton has been able to substantially reverse this trend. And with the re-emergence of denims as the fashion fabric of all times, world consumption of cotton is bound to increase in the coming years.

In India, however, we do not have either a strategy or a work programme to promote the use of cotton. In fact, the need for such promotional activities is much more in India than in the US or any other country, because our stakes in cotton are higher and the pull of manmade are bound to be stronger in India. While the richer segments of the society are bound to prefer natural fibres for their wearing comfort, the poorer sections are more likely to be lured away by the durability and price advantages of manmades. Therefore, there is a need to propagate the advantages of natural fibres, especially of cotton in which India has a very strong presence. Perhaps an apex body of cotton traders like EICA is in a unique position to spear head such a move.

We all know that our yield per hectare is among the lowest in the world stagnating at 300 kgs per hectare, whereas, the world average is about 600 kgs per hectare. Some of the countries have an yield of about 2,500 kgs per hectare. In my humble opinion, therefore, we should try and endeavour to achieve an average yield of about 1000 kgs per hectare in India which is not too ambitious a target and would mean producing 330 per cent more cotton out of the present acreage. In other words, we would be able to produce about 500 lakh bales of cotton per annum. If we endeavour towards this mission nothing is impossible and with sincere and dedicated efforts we can certainly reach our goals. The need for improving cotton from the points of view of quality parameters and contamination have been discussed extensively in the country for a long time.

The Government of India has launched Technology Mission on Cotton (TMC) which has four mini missions. Mini Missions I and II have been entrusted to the ministry of agriculture, while Mini Mission III and IV are under the charge of ministry of textile. Unfortunately, Mini Mission I And II which are responsible for better farming practices, higher yield and providing better seeds is still not very active, mainly, on account of the apathy of various state governments. In India, we have over 100 seeds and a large number of such seeds need to be de-notified so that our farmers can cultivate only good quality certified seeds which will certainly give a boost to the yield per hectare.

The involvement of industry in the activities of Mini Mission I continues to be inadequate. While very few seeds have been denotified, more are being released. the committee handling release of new seeds does not have any effective participation from the textile industry. They have recently released two more seeds which do not have any better quality parameters than that of existing seeds to merit their release. I understand the committee conveniently forgot to invite Mr M B Lal to the meeting where the decision to release these seeds was taken, though he is a member of the committee.

The efforts for improving farming practices under Mini Mission II of the Technology Mission on Cotton have also not been very successful so far mainly for two reasons. One is that the state governments who are required to share 25 per cent of the expenditure involved in extension work just do not seem to be interested.

I had offered to the agriculture ministry that ICMF would be prepared to undertake cotton extension work under the Mini Mission II and contribute the 25 per cent share. EICA and CCI had also made similar offers. At a meeting of the standing committee on Mini Mission II, where these offers were made, the officials of the agriculture ministry were quite positive to the offers. However, later we received a response that for the present private participation in extension work is not possible. But they are trying to incorporate provisions to facilitate the private participation. I hope the amendments materialise soon, since extension work is the crux of the mission from the point of view of budget allocation and tangible results.

The structure of our cotton farms is one of the issues that need attention for improving farming practices. Very small farm holdings have limitations in investing on scientific farming practices and absorbing technology. There have been very little activity for corporatising cotton farming or at least for inter-linking small cotton farms through an effective cooperative movement, so that absorption of scientific farming practices can be facilitated.

In Mini Missions III and IV commendable progress has already been achieved in improving market yards and G&P factories. The work programme for the 10th Plan period envisages to take this process forward and cover a large number of additional market yards and factories. The dedication of Mr M B Lal, advisor, TMC and the guidance and active involvement of Mr Subodh Kumar, textile commissioner, are producing the desired results in these two mini missions.

However, coming to our ginning machines, in my humble opinion, many of our gins are obsolete and antiquated and needs to be replaced by modern high speed gins which will improve tremendously the quality of cotton which is the requirement of the user industry at the moment. The technology in spinning and weaving is fast changing so also the taste and stringent quality requirements. In order to produce quality yarn and fabric the industry needs long fibre length, better uniformity, higher strength with a micronaire range preferably between 3.7 and 4.2 as also better colour grade and lower trash.

The much-talked about BT cotton which has now recived the go ahead signal from the government will substantially improve the yield per hectare and would reduce tremendously the cost in producing cotton.

The efforts currently made by the textile ministry and the Technology Mission on Cotton for achieving sectoral linkages in the cotton economy by encouraging end users of cotton to participate in farming activities are extremely useful in improving our cotton economy. Contract farming not only has the potential to remove the varietal mismatch between production and consumption of cotton and improve quality, but also to coordinate and consolidate farming activities of small producers and promote scientific farming.

The strength of cotton as an engine of growth for our industry and the potential of the textile industry to drive the country’s economic growth are well recognised. But both the cotton and textile sectors have been facing serious challenges in the country. If a low yield and high contamination have been the bane of our cotton, outdated technology and irrational government policies have contributed to the decline of the textile industry.

I am happy to note that both these sectors are currently undergoing positive changes. The awareness campaign and upgradation of processing facilities under TMC have significantly improved our cotton and the substantial rationalisation of excise duty structure achieved in this year’s budget has improved the investment climate in the industry.

Textile shares have started moving up after years and demand as well as prices for textiles are on the upswing. If this trend continues, I have no doubt that the white gold will retain its glitter and the textile industry will regain its pristine glory in the years to come.