GLOBAL
MEET ON COTTON - AGRICULTURE
News: International cotton meeting from
Dec. 2-5
What's
in the news?
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The Government of India, Ministry of
Textiles is hosting the 81st Plenary Meeting of the International Cotton Advisory Committee (ICAC) in Jio World Convention
Centre, Mumbai during 2nd - 5th December, 2023 through the Office of
Textile Commissioner in association with the Cotton Corporation of India Limited (CCI), the Confederation of Indian
Textile Industry (CITI) and the Cotton Association of India (CAI).
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It is a matter of honour and pride for
India to host this event after nearly 8 years.
Key
takeaways:
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Theme - “Cotton Value
Chain: Local Innovations for Global prosperity”.
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Aim:
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The 81st Plenary aims to serve as a
platform for sharing innovations, benchmarks, good practices and experiences
across the globe on productivity, climate resilience and circularity for a
vibrant cotton economy.
○
Focus is on local innovations and cutting edge
technologies for sustainability developed locally but have global implications
and potential for the prosperity of the cotton value chain touching the
livelihoods of millions engaged in production, processing, trade, fashion and
textile industry.
International
Cotton Advisory Committee (ICAC):
●
It is an association of governments of cotton producing, consuming and trading
countries which acts as the international commodity body for cotton and
cotton textiles.
Origin:
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Founded at the International Cotton
Meeting in Washington, DC in 1939,
the ICAC advocates for cotton producing nations, publishes studies and
technical information on the cotton industry.
Members:
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While most of the world’s cotton producing
nations are members, two of the ten largest producers (China and Turkmenistan) are not members of the ICAC.
International
Forum for Cotton Promotion (IFCP):
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The ICAC along with private sector cotton
organisations initiated the International Forum for Cotton Promotion (IFCP) in
2000.
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The IFCP serves as a forum and
clearinghouse for the exchange of proven
cotton promotion techniques.
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The IFCP facilitates domestically focused
and domestically funded cotton promotion programs.
Other
Key Takeaways:
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India is also gearing up to host the
world's largest textile exposition,
Bharat Tex 2024, scheduled to take place from 26th to 29th February, 2024,
in the International Exhibition cum Convention Centre (IECC) at Pragati Maidan,
New Delhi.
●
The international participants would also
be engaged with an exposure to the spectrum of Textile products Bharat Tex is
poised to showcase to the world with more than 10,000 exhibitors across
handlooms, made-ups as well as technical textiles.
Go
back to basics:
Cotton
Cultivation in India:
●
Cotton is one of the most important
commercial crops cultivated in India and accounts for around 25% of the total
global cotton production.
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India has the largest area under cotton cultivation and is the second largest producer (after China).
○
Gujarat,
Maharashtra and Telangana are the major cotton producing
states. They produce about 65% of cotton production in the country.
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It plays a major role in sustaining the
livelihood of an estimated 6 million cotton farmers and 40-50 million people
engaged in related activities such as cotton processing and trade.
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The Indian Textile Industry consumes a
diverse range of fibres and yarns and the ratio of use of cotton to non –
cotton fibres in India are around 60:40 whereas it is 30:70 in the rest of the
world.
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Apart from being the provider of a basic
necessity of life i.e., clothing which is next only to food, cotton is also one
of the largest contributors to India’s net foreign exchange by way of exports.
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The Indian textile industry is working
towards achieving $250 billion by 2030, including $ 100 billion export.
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Due to its economic importance in India,
it is also termed as “White-Gold”.
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Also, India will provide leadership in cotton textiles and
technical textiles.
○
Technical textiles are man-made fabric
meant for a specific function and are not generally used for apparel or
aesthetic appeal.