All stakeholders must come together in Mission mode for holistic growth of the Cotton Textiles Value Chain in India to achieve the 5 Fs ‘Farm to Foreign’ vision of Hon’ble Prime Minister: Shri Goyal
New Delhi: An interactive meeting with stakeholders of Cotton Textile Value Chain on improving cotton productivity & branding of Indian Cotton was held at Vanijya Bhawan New Delhi on Sunday in the august presence of Shri Narendra Singh Tomar, Minister of Agriculture & Farmers’ Welfare, Shri Piyush Goyal, Minister of Commerce & Industry, Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution and Textiles, and Smt. Darshana V. Jardosh, Minister of State for Textiles & Railways.
Shri Piyush Goyal, Union Minister for Commerce & Industry, Textiles, Consumer Affairs, and Food & Public Distribution said that it’s time for India to adopt world standards in Cotton Productivity. He also said that all stakeholders must share best practices to boost cotton productivity in India to boost farmer incomes.
Speaking on the occasion Shri Goyal said that the Private sector must contribute to boosting research in productivity, farmers’ education as well as branding to which Government would provide matching support. Asserting an integrated approach, Shri Goyal said that the private sector has to act in a Mission mode to strengthen the Cotton Value Chain. He further added that we need to brand our own cotton which is good quality by an equal contribution from Industry. Action on reducing contamination issues like colored HDPE. Master plan to be worked out by industry within one week.
Shri Goyal said that cotton works like a bridge between agriculture and the textile sector. Cotton-based products have a significant share of total Textiles & Apparel products both at the Domestic and International levels. With Market access opening through FTAs, it is imperative to get our act together to enhance Productivity and Quality both. Shri Goyal said that we need to bring back our dominance in the global cotton industry and India looks at Textiles as a key sector that will help us build an “Aatmanirbhar Bharat”. He also said that the Centre is working on the ‘ 5F ’ vision of Hon’ble PM: ‘Farm to Fibre; Fibre to Factory; Factory to Fashion; Fashion to Foreign’. It may be noted that the Textile sector has taken giant strides from RoSCTL to RoDTEP& NTTM to PM Mitra for increasing cotton and textiles produced in India. Agreements for duty-free access to Textiles with Australia & UAE have given a new impetus to the trade and similar agreements with the EU, UK & Canada are being negotiated.
Shri Goyal said that it is vital to increase yield and profit margins for our cotton farmers by creating awareness about the right seeds and encouraging farmers to adopt modern technology and progressive agricultural practices. Appreciating the examples of good work done by some FPOs, CITI CDRA, etc, he expects replication to achieve better results across the board.
Speaking at the meeting, Shri Narendra Tomar, Union Minister for Agriculture and Farmer’s Welfare said that the Growth of Cotton Production and Productivity is vital to employment growth in the Country. He said that Short term and Long term strategies are needed to be worked out for boosting productivity. Shri Tomar said that High-Density farming and micro-irrigation are key to boosting cotton productivity in large parts of the nation.
In the first of its kind meeting at the level of Union Ministers of Agriculture and Textiles both, core issues pertaining to the cotton value chain were deliberated at length with outcome-oriented targets assigned to Industry Captains and Govt Functionaries alike. Shri Upendra Prasad Singh, Secretary Textiles, Shri Vijoy Kumar Singh, Special Secretary, Senior Officials from the Union Ministries of Textiles, Agriculture & Farmer’s Welfare, Commerce, Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Officials from Research and Development sector, Senior Officials from Corporations, farmers, seed industry and stakeholders were present. The whole textile value chain was represented in the consultations through lead associations and experts in the meeting.
