‘Low yields could make India a cotton importer’

In spite of the largest cotton acreage in India, the yields are very low and if this persists the country may become “a net importer of cotton”, speakers warned at a conference on ‘Indian Cotton Scenario in the Current Context 2016-2017’. India needs better real time data on cotton, and all bales pressed here should be registered and include a digital mark.

The country has the largest cotton acreage, but yields are very low and regional cotton associations should educate farmers and also take up programmes to help collect real time data, the Indian Cotton Association (ICA) president Rakesh Rathi said at the inaugural address of the conference organised by the Indian Cotton Federation (ICF) jointly with ICA.

Echoing Rathi’s concerns, Senthil Kumar, chairman of Southern India Mills’ Association added, “Cotton acreage, quality and productivity are down since the last two seasons and we are apprehensive about India becoming a net importer of cotton.”

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He expressed the fear that in the near future, textile mills might not get cotton at the right time even at a high price.

The other stakeholders present at the conference called for efforts to boost cotton output that would benefit both the farmers and the industry.