CAI to set up farmers training institute in Mumbai

The Cotton Association of India (CAI) recently cleared a proposal to set up an All India Training Centre for Farmers in the Cotton Green commercial area in Mumbai, CAI president Atul S Ganatra announced at the inaugural session of Cotton India 2018 conference. With over 122 lakh hectare acreage, India has the largest acreage under cotton in the world.

Land holdings in India are relatively smaller and about three-fifths of the total acreage under cotton in the country is rain-fed and dependent on the vagaries of nature, Ganatra said.

The country’s annual consumption of cotton is expected to touch about 330 lakh bales during the ongoing crop year as several new textile mills in Gujarat and other states have started operations resulting in about 35 lakh new spindles this year, a newspaper report quoted him as saying.

But, against the world average productivity figure of 779 kilograms per hectare, cotton productivity in India is still around 500 kg per hectare, he added.