New Delhi (08/11/2022): Union Minister of Textiles, Commerce & Industry, Consumer Affairs and Food & Public Distribution, Piyush Goyal held third interactive meeting with the Textile Advisory Group (TAG) at VanijyaBhawan, New Delhi, on 07.11.2022 to review progress of initiatives for cotton value chain. Darshana V. Jardosh, Minister of State for Textiles and Railways, Rachna Shah, Secretary Textiles, Suresh Kotak, Chairman, TAG, Senior Officials from related Ministries and cotton value chain stakeholders were present.
Goyal reviewed the actions initiated subsequent to the last interactive meeting held at New Delhi. A holistic plan for increasing cotton productivity was presented by ICAR-Central Institute for Cotton Research – (CICR), Nagpur for bringing improvement in cotton productivity through farmer awareness program, HDPS and global best farm practices.
Goyal stressed that this is the high time for branding Indian cotton and create a loyality and a pull for the KASTURI branded products from consumers and is a welcome step towards AtmaNirbhar Bharat. Goyal desired that the industry should be on the forefront and work on the principle of self regulation by owning the responsibility of branding and certifying Indian cotton KASTURI.
Further, Goyal pointed out that quality of Indian cotton fibre is paramount, therefore implementation of cotton bales quality control order under BIS act 2016 is a must for standardization of cotton bales in terms of technical quality parameters and identification of cotton bale traceability for the benefit of all stakeholders.
Goyal appreciated the Action taken by Industry and its nominated body to work on Quality, Traceability and Branding of KASTURI Cotton. Government shall be supporting the initiative with funds matching to Industry Contribution.
Goyal emphasized strengthening testing facility needed to conform to KASTURI standards, DNA testing and traceability. He assured that adequate modern testing facilities would be created through BIS and TRAs.
For increase of cotton productivity, Goyal emphasized that supply of good quality cotton seeds is the need of the hour and requires some concrete action from related Ministries on war footing. He also stressed the need to introduce advanced technologies related to high yielding cotton seeds and innovative agronomy such as High Density Planting System to enhance productivity of cotton. On mechanization of picking by use of hand held kapas plucker machines, developed by SIMA-CDRA, which would support the farmer producer, Goyal urged that textile Industry and Industry Associations should join hands to promote and popularize mechanization. The Confederation of Indian Textile Industry (CITI) will take up this project in mission mode with distribution support from Cotton Corporation of India Ltd. Industry Associations and Industry leaders together agreed to fund 75,000 hand held kapas Plucker machines. Additionally, FPOs may be actively involved to empower cotton farmers.
Responding to the demand of Industry for change of color of fertilizer bags (that are reused by farmers in cotton picking and storing) which have been attributed as one of the major cause of contamination in cotton, Goyal highlighted that Government of India has notified ‘One Nation One Fertilizer’ scheme which defines logo and pattern, to take care of this concern.
The industry and textile value chain stakeholders expressed their sincere gratitude for the prompt and pragmatic approach of the Minister to address their issues through consultative mode.
