Kastoori Cotton in Detail For Competitive Exam

Union Minister for Textiles unveiled a brand and a logo for Indian cotton recently on the
occasion of 2 World Cotton Day on 7 October 2020.

The branding, Kastoori Cotton, would initially be applicable to long-staple cotton that is grown in India and meets prescribed standards.

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.

National Food Security Mission-Commercial Crops (NFSM-CC):

In the 12 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.