CITI organized the 2nd Global Cotton Conference on, November 23 in New Delhi. The theme of the conference was “Game-Changing Technologies & Traits for Achieving High Yields and Fine Quality of Cotton”. This hybrid event was attended by senior government officials and industry stakeholders and experts across the entire textile value chain. The Conference also held detailed discussions on the various crucial aspects of the cotton value chain at the technical sessions.
Roop Rashi, IA&AS, Textile Commissioner, was the Guest of Honour for the event. While delivering the special address she informed the audience that the Australian Parliament has ratified the Australia – India ETCA which would bring a lot of changes to the textile industry. Further, she elaborated on the present status of cotton in India and how far we have come since the last deliberation.
She further cited that till now we have set many targets for the cotton industry but now it is high time to work towards achieving the same and that too in a time bound manner. She remarked that both the Ministry of Textiles and the Ministry of Agriculture have been able to achieve Synergy in their operations which are one of the major breakthroughs in their efforts toward the upliftment of the cotton farmers.
She highlighted the splendid work done by CITI CDRA and was hopeful that in the near future we will certainly see the efforts of the industry and government taking shape.
Suresh Kotak, Chairman, of Textile Advisory Group (TAG) delivered the presentation on ‘Indian cotton – current and future trends’ in the theme session. He gave four mantras –‘Sacch Kapas, Swach Kapas, Saksham Kapas, and Swasth Kapas’ According to him, this Chatushpadi Mahamantra will be an important contributor to achieving the desired goal of becoming an important supplier of textiles to the world.
T Rajkumar, Chairman CITI while commenting on the event said that Cotton is a global commodity that is grown in over 75 countries and also holds a predominant position in the Indian Textile sector which has a presence in the entire textile value chain i.e. from farm to fashion.
He further informed that CITI is directly undertaking Cotton Development and Extension Activities through its extension arm- CITI Cotton Development & Research Association (CITI CDRA) for more than past 50 years where in at present about 1 lakh cotton farmers are directly associated with CITI-CDRA in 3 states of Maharastra, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh. Farmers associated with CDRA are able to achieve higher cotton yield as compared to the State Average Yield. After achieving positive results so far, CITI CDRA is planning to expand its horizon in other cotton-growing states also and is very optimistic about the same.
Sunil Patwari, Chairman, TEXPROCIL, and M. M. Prabhakar Rao, Chairman, NSL Group, Shri Prashant Mohota Member, CITI’s Standing Committee on Cotton & MD, Gimatex Ltd and Shri. Manish Daga President, All India Cotton Farmer Producer Organization addressed the audience with insightful remarks on the new game-changing technologies.
The Conference also held detailed discussions on the various crucial aspects of the cotton value chain at the technical sessions.
The first session on ‘Revamping of Cotton Breeding Programs for Efficient Use of Genetic Resources under Changing Climate’ was chaired by Shri M Prabhakar Rao Chairman, NSL Group and moderated by Dr. Shivendra Bajaj Executive Director Federation of Seed Industry of India (FSII) had the following panellists: Dr. Y.G. Prasad Director ICAR-Central Institute for Cotton Research (CICR), Dr. S.K. Shukla Director, ICAR-CIRCOT Mumbai , Dr. K. Selvaraju, Secretary General, Southern India Mills’ Association, Dr. Keshav Kranthi Chief Scientist, International Cotton Advisory Committee (ICAC), USA, Mr. Bhagirath Choudhary Founder & Director of South Asia Biotechnology Centre.
The second session on ‘Cotton – Global Raw Material Scenario’ as its theme was Ms. Prajakta L Verma, IAS, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Textiles. Moderated by Shri Unupom Kausik, senior vice president, Olam India, panellists for the session were Alexandre Schenkel, vice president, Abrapa (Brazilian Cotton Growers Association); Dr. Terry Townsend, global consultant, Cotton Analytics, US; Mr. Peush Narang, programme representative – India & Sri Lanka, Cotton Council International; Mr. Sushil Kumar Jhamb, Director – Raw Materials, Vardhman Textiles Ltd and Shri Sanjay Chawla, Founder & Global Convener, Fashionating World.
TVK Chaitanya Head-PMT Agri Department, Multi Commodity Exchange of India Ltd. (MCX) also delivered a presentation on “Awareness Programme on Cotton Hedging”.
The last session on ‘Traceability & Circularity’ was chaired by Roop Rashi, IA&AS, Textile Commissioner. Moderated by economist and senior journalist G Chandrashekhar, panellists for the session were Mr. Crispin Argento, managing director, The Sourcery; Ms. Mridula Ramesh Founder, Sundaram Climate Institute; Tara Luckman, Sustainability Advisor, Cotton Council International; Dr. Rossitza Krueger, Project Manager, Sustainability and Value Added in the Cotton Economy, GIZ India and Manish Gupta, manager – Supply Chain, Better Cotton Initiative – India.
The 2nd Global Cotton Conference witnessed overwhelming support from the industry stakeholders having all the sessions’ jampacked. The Conference also received good support from the textile industry as sponsors: Cotton USA, Crystal Crop Protection Ltd, Kotak Ginning & Pressing Ltd., Pallava Group, The Sourcery and MCX as Awareness Partner.
Northern India Textile Mills’ Association (NITMA), Denim Manufacturers Association (DMA), Ahmedabad Textile Industry Research Association (ATIRA) and Northern India Textile Research Association (NITRA), Bombay Textile Research Association (BTRA) and South India Textile Research Association (SITRA) were the supporting partners. Textile Value Chain, The Textile Magazine, Fibre 2 Fashion were the media partners for the conference.
The event witnessed overwhelming support from the industry stakeholders having all the sessions jampacked.
