Hello friends, since last year world has been celebrating the World cotton day on October 7. This year on the occasion of world cotton day, Ministry of Textiles has launched the Kasturi Cotton a brand name along with logo for India’s premium cotton in the world trade/market along with some initiative to boost the cotton production . In this blog I am going to tell about this brand and other initiatives taken by the ministry and the cotton corporation of India to encourage the cotton production and trade.
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| (Image credit :indianexpress.com) |
Highlights:
*Cotton Scenario in India
* Initiatives by Textile Ministry and Cotton Corporation of India:
to boost cotton trade
* Kasturi Cotton Brand: Need and benefits
Cotton Scenario in India
If you are an agriculture students you might know total 20 species of cotton were there, out of which only 4 were cultivable. Not all the countries
cultivate these 4 spices .India is the only country where all these four species
of cotton are grown on commercial scale. Indian climate is best suitable for
cotton production. When it comes to the total area India rank 1st in
the world followed by U.S.A then China but when it comes to production China
rank first followed by USA and then India. In India Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh
were leading states both in area and production.
In India the agency responsible for undertaking cotton
operation was Cotton Corporation of India (CCI) which was established in 1970. A
Friend to Cotton Farmer & A Dependable Supplier of Cotton to the Textile
Industry.
The major function/roles of CCI:
*Public sector agency for the marketing of cotton
*It plays role in as canalizing agency for imports of cotton
and purchase of raw cotton for giving necessary price support to enterprising
cultivators and also for procuring raw cotton for textile mills.
*Now, the major role of the CCI is to undertake price support
operations, whenever the market prices of kapas fall below the minimum support
prices (MSP) announced by Govt. of India, without any quantitative limit.
Besides MSP operations, to fulfil the raw material requirement of the domestic
textile industry particularly for lean season, CCI undertakes commercial
purchase operations.
*Corporation is having PAN India presence through
headquarters at CBD Belapur, Navi Mumbai (Maharashtra), 19 branches and more
than 400 cotton procurement centers in all major cotton growing States. CCI
Operations cover all the cotton growing states in the country comprising of:
- Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan in Northern Zone
- Gujarat, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh & Orissa in
Central Zone and
- Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka & Tamil Nadu in Southern Zone
Initiatives by Textile Ministry and Cotton Corporation of India
On the Occasion of world cotton day the union textile minster
Smt. Smriti Irani told about the new initiative taken about cotton industry which
involves the new brand and logo and the mobile app, “Cott-Ally” developed by
CCI for the farmers.
Kasturi Cotton - now onwards India’s premium Cotton (presently
for long staple cotton) would be known as ‘Kasturi Cotton’ in the world cotton
Trade. The Kasturi Cotton brand will represent Whiteness, Brightness, Softness,
Purity, Luster, Uniqueness and Indianness.
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| (Image credit :civilsdaily.com) |
* Union minister told that to ensure sustainability, integrity and
end-to-end traceability of the organic products, a Certification system based on
comparable international standards verified through internationally acceptable
institutional system is required to be put in place.
* Minister told the importance of Cotton in Indian economy. India’s production of organic cotton is
about 51 per cent of the global total. “Hence, enhanced production and better utilization
of this cotton, especially, the extra-long staple, will enhance our share in
the world cotton trade.”
* A mobile app, “Cott-Ally" has been developed by CCI for providing
latest news regarding weather condition, Crop situation and best farm practices.
*Apart from this
Cotton Corporation of India (CCI) made ever highest Minimum Support Price (MSP)
operation of cotton and hopeful that during the new cotton season, the
procurement under MSP will be increased. Even CCI has opened 430
procurement centers in all cotton growing states and payments are being made
digitally to farmers’ account within 72 hours.
*A discount of
Rs.300/- per candy is being offered by CCI in its regular sale to MSME mills,
Khadi and Village industry, Cooperative sector mills to enhance their
competitiveness and efficiency.
Need and
Benefits from having a brand:
Need
*Since British
rules the trading the import, export, re –import of cotton and cotton based
products were practiced but at very low rates they purchased the cotton from
the farmers ,the Indian cotton was at high demand at that time.
*Many a time’s
exports from Indian were rejected or purchased at low purchased by the other countries
because of lack of maintenance of international standard and the brand quality.
*People look at
the brand and the quality. The brand will maintain the minimum standard prescribed
so automatically the traders and consumers prefer the brand one over the local
product.
Benefits
*The launch of a
national brand would therefore enable the Indian cotton value chain to improve
quality and facilitate production of high value-added products to sustain the
growth.
* The value of
the products under a brand will be high so the returns from the export will
also high.
* The brand
value attracts more customers and increase the demand for the product.
To ensure sustainability, integrity and end-to-end traceability of the organic products, a certification system based on comparable international standards verified through internationally acceptable institutional system is required to be put in place. Accordingly, Ministry of Textiles through APEDA under Ministry of Commerce and Industry has prescribed a certification system for organic Cotton which will be introduced in phases in the entire textile value chain. Similarly, prescribing a certification system for non-organic Cotton has also been taken up with APEDA so that usages of cotton can be suitably augmented.
(Content source : pib.gov.in , thehindu.com)
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