Sustainability in cotton value chain: role of retail & small producers groups

Abstract

Cotton is one of the important commercial crops grown in India. In the global cotton production, India rank third after the US and China. Of 8-9 million hectares of cotton being grown every year, India contributes to approximately 16% of the global production and 25 % of total cotton area in the world. Almost 3 million tonnes of cotton are produced in India very year. Indian cotton industry has about 281 composite mills 1,543 spinning units, 1.72 million registered looms, and 36.37 million spindles installed capacity. The New Textile Policy of 1985 along with the raw cotton imports liberalisation, there has been a significant modernization in the industry. Today, more than 40% of spindelage in India is less than 10 years old. This gives the Indian cotton industry an competitive edge over its international rivals. The textile industry directly employs around 30 million people and is the second largest employer following agriculture. It contributes 27% to export earnings, 14% to industrial production and 4% to GDP. Cotton crop provides livelihood to more than 60 million Indians by supporting in agriculture, processing, and the potential use of cotton in textiles industry, thus contributing to 29.9% of the India’s Agricultural Gross Domestic Product.