Cotton fabric is a sustainable material that ought to be used more frequently. Cotton with reasonable costs is the key. The textile sector is dreading the worst due to the ongoing scarcity and high cost of cotton. Exports of cotton worth $2 billion are in jeopardy. India cultivates cotton on 12 million hectares but lags in productivity.

India and Cotton production

• India’s current cotton productivity of 440 kg/ha of lint (long-fiber varieties), down from its peak of 516 kg/ha five years ago, compares poorly with the global average of 775 kg/ha.

• In the absence of a clear strategic policy and enabling regulatory environment, India may not be able to provide cotton at an affordable price to the textile industry.

  • This might result in India turning into a net importer of cotton from being the largest exporter in 2013-14.

• India’s cotton production threefold from 13 million bales in 2002 to a peak of 39 million bales in 2013 but dropped to 32 million bales in 2021.

• Cotton yields have been stagnant over the past five years and have just begun to slow down, putting strain on supplies.

• The imbalance between supply and demand has raised prices and negatively impacted the textile sector.

• By 2026, the textile industry would require 45 million bales for both domestic use and exports to nations like Bangladesh and Vietnam.

• Without an immediately developed strategy involving numerous stakeholders and Central and State Ministries, it is improbable that India would produce enough cotton in five years.

Reasons for downfall in cotton production

Low yield

• A total of 62 districts, or 37% of the cotton-growing area, have very low yields of 230 kg/ha, and another 69 districts, or 35% of the land, have medium yields of 420 kg/ha.

  • The productivity in the rest of the area is reasonably high at 615 kg/ha.

• For cotton farmers, expensive weed control and yield losses from pink bollworm, boll rot, and sucking pests have become a nightmare.

High production Cost & Low productivity

• The lives and income of 70 lakh cotton farmers are being negatively impacted by rising production costs.

• Farmers are required to pay 20% of their income for cotton picking.

• Additionally, since 2005, no new biotech features for cotton seeds have been approved for commercialization, which has led to ineffective pest management and decreased yields.

• Several nations obtained starting outturns of 40–45% compared to India''s 30-35 %.

• This indicates that, in comparison to other countries, India is losing 20% of its lint productivity.

Outdated agronomic methods

• Cotton production is becoming inefficient due to outdated agronomic methods and the mechanization of tasks like picking.

Price controls on cotton seeds

• Due to price controls on cotton seeds, there have been insufficient investments made in seed research over the past ten years, which has prevented the creation of high-quality cottonseed variants.

What needs to be done?

• There is a need for a holistic and long-term strategic approach.

• Multiple links in the value chain have to be optimized and technologically upgraded, starting from cotton seed, crop protection, crop nutrition, irrigation, mechanization, markets, ginners, and the end-user.

• There has to be an alignment between different Central ministries and between centers and States where cotton is grown or textile units are based.

India must adopt breakthrough technologies and implement a new production system to achieve the global average productivity. This can be done by the following methods:

High-Density Planting System (HDPS)

• With customized agronomic techniques, there is need to increase the plant population from the present 15,000–25,000 per hectare to 75,000–1,000,000, which will increase the output by 30%.

• India needs to develop a compact plant type that will be suitable to increase the plant population.

• This will call for a breeding effort from the seed industry in partnership with ICAR-Central Institute for Cotton Research and ICAR-Central Institute for Research on Cotton Technology (CIRCOT).

• Farmers have to be incentivized to adopt this method.

High Ginning Out-Turn (GOT):

• Seed companies need to be incentivized to invest in developing varieties with higher ginning out-turn.

  • Ginning out-turn is the percentage of ginned lint obtained from a mass of seed cotton.

• The Centre must also incentivize farmers to grow cotton with high GOT through a better MSP and a differentiated market price for such cotton.

• It is estimated that the adoption of high ginning out-turn can help India to increase cotton productivity by 20%.

Technology deployment:

• The next-generation insect and weed management cotton technology, whose approval is pending with the Environment Ministry, must be approved immediately in order to improve the biotech features.

• To satisfy the pressing demands of farmers, BtHt cotton must be approved for commercial use.

  • Additionally, it will promote R&D and quicken efforts to combat the pink bollworm, the danger of boll rot, and the cotton leaf curl virus.

• In the short to medium term, effective weed management with next-generation HtBt cotton can boost yields by 20–25%.

• The Center must operationalize and streamline the regulatory framework, relieve States of the responsibility of providing NOC, maintain the regular operation of the Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC), and promote the commercial sector to use advanced biotech traits.

• The use of pneumatic planters and mechanical pickers is essential to reduce the farmer’s cost of cultivation and improve his competitiveness.

  • The farm machinery industry needs to make machines that suit Indian conditions and small farm holdings.

• For controlling plant vegetative growth and canopy, high-quality PGRs (Plant Growth Regulator) should be utilized in HDPS.  This makes the crop suitable for mechanical harvesting.

• Before mechanical picking, the crop must be defoliated using a good quality defoliant.

  • These two goods must originate from the crop protection sector.

• Pre-cleaners must be deployed in the ginning mills to remove trash and improve the cleanliness of cotton to ensure Indian cotton fetches better prices in international markets.

• The textile industry must be involved in making the necessary changes to the machines in ginning mills and spinning mills to improve cotton quality.

Other changes

• At the policy level, research investments by the seed industry must be encouraged by the government.

• Withdrawing price control on cotton seeds is also essential.

For achieving higher lint productivity in cotton, improving the profitability and competitiveness of cotton farmers, and making the textile industry realize its full potential, India needs to revisit the highly successful Technology Mission on Cotton (TMC) 1.0 of 2002. The government must set up an inter-ministerial initiative involving ministries and all the important stakeholders to take up TMC 2.0 on a mission mode.