There is an urgent need to set up Cotton Development Board, on the lines Coffee Board, in order to tap the country's potential to achieve 1,000 lakh bales by 2023, according to a top official in Southern India Mills Association (SIMA) here.
The country has nearly 12 million hectares of land and 25 million farmers involved directly or indirectly in the cotton cultivation and a slight push by the Centre would give impetus to the cotton production in the country, K Selvaraju, Secretary General, SIMA, told PTI.
He said the government was not giving due importance to Cotton as given to coffee or sugar or even cashew and once a board is set up, the country could achieve a higher productivity as being achieved by the US and Brazil.
India could reach 375 lakh bales of cotton production, mainly due to the Cotton Technology Mission implemented some 10 years ago, he said, adding, the country could easily achieve 1,000 lakh bales by 2023, if the government worked seriously.
The productivity of 530 to 540 kg at present could be doubled to 1,000 to 1,200 kg with the involvement of a board, comprising government officials, scientists, including those from Central Institute for Cotton Research and stakeholders like industry and farming community, he said.
To start with, the government can give a seed money of about Rs 50 crore Rs 200 crore and allocate funds from the annual budget as being given to different boards and the results could be achieved in the next five years, he said.
SIMA was making appeal for such a board for the last few year, but to no avail, Selvaraju said, adding, the association, which is in the process of preparing a vision document for the textile industry and likely to be released in a couple of months, would contain more details of the Board.
The constitution of a board could solve all the problems being faced by the cotton and cotton-based industry, as it could witness a systematic and smooth result-oriented functioning, Selvaraju claimed.
