October 7: World Cotton Day; Textile Minister attends the program
The World Cotton Day (WCD) is being organized by the WTO in collaboration with UN, FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization), UNCTD (United Nations Conference on Trade and Development), International Trade Center and International Cotton Advisory Committee.
The World Cotton Day is being observed for the first time. The resilience of farmers will be recognized and celebrated on the day.
Objective
The Objective of World Cotton Day is
- to provide exposure to cotton and its stakeholders
- To seek new collaboration for developing countries with private sectors and investors
- To engage beneficiaries and strengthen development od assistance for cotton.
Global Celebration
The WCD will be celebrated in different countries with events that will provide exposure to farmers, researchers and business participants.
Several conferences, seminars and discussions will be conducted to mark the event.
Significance
Cotton is produced in 75 countries. It accounts to 18 billion USD of annual trade. Around 26 million farmers are involved in cotton farming. China is the largest producer of cotton followed by India, USA, Brazil, Pakistan, Turkey.
Usage of water
Cotton is a draught resistant crop. The deep root system of cotton is ideal for arid climate.
Usage of land
Cotton occupies 2.1% of world’s arable land and yet accounts to 27% of world textile needs.
Cotton Technical Assistance Program
Between 2011 and 2018, India conducted CTAP in 7 African countries namely Benin, Faso, Burkina, Mali, Chad, Uganda and Malawi. It focusses on increasing the competitiveness of cotton and cotton-based industries. This was a huge success.
Textile Minister attended the WCD program in Geneva. She announced that India is set to launch second phase of CTAP for Africa. It will be introduced in 5 additional countries Mali, Togo, Ghana, Zambia and Tanzania. India already had the program implemented in 6 African countries Benin, Chad, Burkin Faso, Malawi, Nigeria.
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Month: Current Affairs - October, 2019
Dr.Cajetan Coelho
October 7, 2019 at 4:26 pmWith proper and timely assistance our cotton growers in the Vidarbha region can do far better than they have been doing so far.