India is in dire need of new varieties of cotton seeds and plants that are adaptive to the soil and climatic conditions to improve its cotton cultivation, the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Labour, Skill Development and Textiles said in its recent report.
According to Ministry of Textile data, India had the most cotton acreage in the world in 2022–2023 at 13,061 lakh hectares; nevertheless, the country’s productivity yield was only 447 kg/hectare, whereas the USA’s yield was 1,065 kg/hectare.
“The committee observed that the core agro-climatic limiting factors in cotton cultivation in India seem to be in our knowledge. It appears to the committee that in addition to the Bt+ and other similar seed traits, the country is in dire need of varieties of cotton seeds/plants that are adaptive/suitable for our soil and climatic conditions,” the report noted.
The Ministry of Textiles was tasked by the panel with conducting a thorough investigation into methods for raising cotton productivity. It was mentioned that the issue with genetically modified seeds is that farmers must purchase them annually, which sets them on a debt spiral that becomes worse as labour, fertiliser, and pesticide expenses rise without producing a corresponding gain in output.
The committee expressed concern that the Government’s intention to waive customs tariffs on all cotton imports might result in an influx of low-cost cotton from overseas.
