cotton story--raw material series final

8/10/2019 Cotton Story--Raw Material Series Final

1/4

Cotton has been in the news in the last six to seven months. Therehas been fall of 33% in cotton prices which has reduced rawmaterial costs for fabric and garment manufacturers. Thanks to thechange in the cotton policy of China, which is one of the largestworlds largest importers of cotton, cotton prices have falleninternationally also. ndia, however, has cotton!surplus country for

years. ndia continues to be a raw material producer among fewnations that export cotton. There is a reason for this. "mong veryfew countries ndias climate is conducive for the production ofcotton. #ight since the $ritish days, cotton in ndia has beenimportant commodity. et us understand how cotton is produced inndia and how di&erent states play an important role in producingthis commodity and making ndia a cotton surplus nation'

Cotton was used for clothing in the present!day (eru and )exico.This was probably as long as *,+++ years ago. Cotton was grown,spun, and woven in ancient ndia, China, gypt, and (akistanaround 3+++ $.C. t is estimated that around -++ ", "rabictraders may have introduced cotton to /paniards. $y the fourteenthcentury, )editerranean farmers were cultivating the cotton plantand shipping the 0bre to the 1etherlands for spinning and weaving.

n the ndian subcontinent, cotton has been cultivated for themanufacturing of textiles products since 2*+ $C, which is the date

ascribed to the )ohen4odaro fragments of the ndus 5alleyCivili6ation. $y the sixth or seventh century " the more robustannual variety of cotton, 7ossypium herbaceum, was grown inndia. $y the thirteenth century, its cultivation spread across thewest and south!east "sia.

Production process

"fter cultivation, cotton is harvested at the farm, and goes throughmultiple processes. $efore processing, there are three stages.

8hen cotton arrives at a textile mill, it is fed into the cleaningmachines with the help of several blenders. n the cleaningmachines trash is removed from the cotton by mixing and breakingit into smaller pieces. This is called ginning. Then the cotton issucked through a pipe into picking machines where it is repeatedlystruck by the beaters in order to knock out the dirt and separatelumps of cotton into smaller pieces. Cotton then goes to the carding


2/4

machine, where the 0bres are separated and trash and short 0bresare removed. /ome cotton goes through a comber that gives moreshort 0bres and makes a stronger lustrous yarn.

Cotton is a kharif crop which re9uires six to eight months tobecome ripe. epending on the climatic conditions, the time ofsowing of cotton and its harvesting varies in ndia. n ndia, in(un4ab and :aryana, cotton seeds are sown in "pril!)ay periodand cotton is harvested in ecember!;anuary period. t must benoted that winter frost can damage cotton crop. n the peninsularpart of ndia, cotton seeds are sown up to + mm and >? mm. "bout ?? % ofthe total cotton production in ndia is of medium staple. #a4asthan,(un4ab, Tamil 1adu, )adhya (radesh, @ttar (radesh, Aarnatakaand )aharashtra are its main producers.

c= /hort staple cotton'

This is inferior cotton with 0bre less than >+ mm long. t is used formanufacturing inferior cloth and fetches lesser price. t is producedmainly "ndhra (radesh, #a4asthan, :aryana, @ttar (radesh and(un4ab.


3/4

The Indian picture

Bor long time ndia was a cotton!de0cit country. ndia would importcotton from international markets. Till 2+s, ndia would importmassive 9uantities of cotton in the range of - to lakh bales perannum. /ubse9uently, the government launched special schemeslike intensive cotton production programmes through successive0ve!year plans. This provided the necessary 0llip to cottonproduction in ndia. There was increase in area and sowing ofhybrid varieties of cotton in the mid 2+s. xperts point out thatdue intensive cotton production, ndia has become self!su&icient incotton production.

n >+++, the government launched DTechnology )ission on CottonDwhich helped in increasing yield and production of cotton throughdevelopment of high yielding varieties, appropriate transfer oftechnology, and better farm management practices. CottonCorporation of ndia, a government undertaking, has also beenproactive in its initiatives in ensuring low cotton wastage andproviding right business environment for farmers and textile mills.

" case in the point is contract farming. Bor a long time, the 9ualityof cotton produced in the country had been comparatively morecontaminated. Barmers had been su&ering due to due to higher

cost of production and low productivity, the end user textile mills0nd it di&icult to consume the available cotton since it containedadmixture of varieties with higher percentage of trash andcontamination.

@nder contract farming, farmers are expected to form associationsand textile mills and other coordinating agencies are entrusted withall the extension services including various inputs and marketingsupport for such cotton produce. The scheme in its extended formbene0ted both the cotton growers through low cost of production

and higher productivity and the textile mills with availability of9uality cotton comparable with international standards.

To give a boost to cotton production through Contract Barming,Cotton Corporation of ndia has been undertaking contract farmingprogramme in all the cotton growing /tates since >++>!+3 andsigning )o@s every year with the BarmersE "ssociation. "ll these


4/4

developments have resulted into a turnaround in cotton productionin the country in the last six to seven years. "ccording to the website of Cotton Corporation of ndia, the yield per hectare which wasstagnant at about 3++ kgFha for more than 2+ years, has increasedsubstantially and reached a level of **> kgFha in the cotton season>+23!2?. Today, cotton cultivation for the current cotton season ishigher than the previous. The area under cotton cultivation in ndiais at a record high of 2>.* million hectares in comparison with 22.million hectares in the previous year.

cotton story--raw material series final

Documents