Govt Nod For Cotton Tech Mission

The textiles ministry has been given "in principle" clearance by the Centre to launch the much-needed cotton technology mission, primarily aimed at increasing the yield per hectare of cotton, official sources said today.

The clearance given for the mission assumes significance in the wake of demand from the industry to increase cotton production in India to meet the rising demand for the commodity.

Though India tops in the area under cotton cultivation, its yield per hectare is much below the global average. The yield is below competing countries like Pakistan and China. Israel tops in the productivity despite water shortage, by resorting to methods such as sprinkler system.India's problem in the yield crops up from the fact that over 70 per cent of the area under cotton cultivation is under rain-fed conditions. Though the country's cotton production has exceeded 160 lakh bales (each 170 kg) during the last three seasons, there is also a genuine lack of quality cotton, which has led to the recent spurt in cotton prices.

The clearance, given by prime minister Inder Kumar Gujral, during a meeting with Union textiles minister R L Jalappa, and textiles secretary Prabhat Kumar, last week, will pave way for exploring ways to improve cotton quality besides productivity.

While clearing the launch of the mission, the prime minister also directed the cabinet secretary T S R Subramaniam, and committee of secretaries to work out the details of the mission and "operationalise" it, the sources said. During the meeting, Gujral also called for giving more emphasis on research and development of good varieties of cotton. The mission is also likely to benefit from the Rs 200 crore earmarked for developing lift irrigation as part of a strategy to develop the agricultural sector. During the meeting, the participating authorities had noted that productivity had not shown much improvement with the yield in the country placed lowly at 300 kgs per hectare as against the world average of 582 kgs.

The suggestion to launch such a mission came from the industry after it was affected by high cotton prices during 1993 and 1994 due to crop shortage. The industry had also recommended that the mission be set up on the lines of the oilseed technology mission launched a few years back.