CHENNAI: India, the world’s largest cotton producer and second-largest consumer, aims to increase exports of raw cotton and value-added products such as yarn and textiles, and create premium value for domestic cotton with the ‘Kasturi Cotton’ branding effort.
Union Textiles Ministry is taking steps to brand Indian cotton by adopting certain standards and specifications in cotton farming, sourcing, optimising the supply chain, and processing for textiles. It includes traceability, and sustainability measures, reflecting the fashion trend in the developed markets.
This is expected to ensure quality and consistency, and reduce contamination, thereby, improving quality consistency, and increasing exports. The government hopes this will also help better price realisation for cotton farmers. Kasturi cotton is also expected to enhance value perception for Indian textiles abroad.
The Kasturi Cotton India project will be implemented from October -- 2023- 24 cotton season. Preparatory arrangements are in the final stage, according to the Union government. Indian cotton, which is often discounted in international markets by 3 to 4 US Cents/ pound (lb) in comparison to equivalent foreign cotton due to contamination issues, would get its true value in export, Textiles Ministry said in response to the query sent by this newspaper. Good quality cotton and value-added products will improve foreign exchange earnings, the ministry said.
Import substitution is also the stated goal of the program. As per the ministry, this could reduce nearly 5 lakh contaminant-controlled cotton bales, valuing around Rs 1,400 crore with the availability of good, contaminant-controlled cotton within the country. However, the lack of defined goals and clarity in implementation is creating confusion among stakeholders in the cotton value chain.
Dr Venkatachalam, advisor of the Tamil Nadu Spinning Mills Association and a member of the Stakeholders Committee of the Cotton Advisory Board, says there are various parameters in determining the quality of cotton such as length, strength, moisture, and contamination and it differs with each variety of cotton seeds and its place of cultivation. “How can we bring uniformity to more than 40 varieties of cotton, cultivated in different climatic and soil conditions? Without addressing this, Kasturi cotton would just be a label without any value,” he argued.
Textile, industry, ginning and spinning mills, and farmers’ representatives this newspaper spoke to agreed that clarity is not available in this matter. Industry representatives allege that the government didn’t consult with stakeholders, though various meetings were held. “Officials held the meeting with previous set agendas without knowing the ground reality,” the representative said on condition of anonymity. Textiles ministry didn’t respond to our queries on whether a particular seed has been selected for the program or how to ensure quality consistency among different varieties.
A premium cotton textile manufacturer based out of Chennai said the issues of contamination and lack of controlled use of pesticides, fragmented processing and supply chain are bottlenecks to India’s ambitions in quality and quantity. India’s cultivation is 36% of the world’s area with 33.3 million hectares but, in terms of productivity India was 38th in 2022, textile ministry data show. The lack of efficient farming practices and mechanized farming is cited as one of the reasons.
“Unpredictable rainfall patterns, changes in climatic conditions pose a problem, availability of water in irrigated areas, lack of high-yield hybrid seeds, market access are posing problems,” said S Thiyagarajan, a cotton farmer from Renganathapuram in Tamil Nadu. Guidance and support are also needed for farmers to implement quality standards and specifications, he added.
Textiles ministry said it is planning a series of campaigns to create awareness among farmers and other stakeholders. Dr Ajay Kumar Shasany, Director of the National Botanical Research Institute (NBRI) at Lucknow, which is working closely in the Kasturi cotton initiative, said they are working on improving yields and stress tolerance along with traceability efforts.