Piyush Goyal Meets Textile Advisory Group to Review Initiatives for Cotton Value Chain

Hon’ble Union Minister of Textiles, Commerce & Industry and Consumer Affairs and Food & Public Distribution, Shri Piyush Goyal presided over the sixth interactive meeting with the Textile Advisory Group (TAG), on 22^nd April, 2023, to review the progress of initiatives for cotton value chain, as part of the Saurashtra Tamil Sangamam which is being conducted under the 'Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat' Initiative in Gujarat in Rajkot.

Shri Piyush Goyal noted the progress in the project on Traceability, Certification and Branding of Kasturi Cotton India and lauded that branding of Indian Cotton will add great value to the entire cotton value chain from farmers to end users.

He pointed out that the quality of Indian cotton is beneficial for farmers and industry both. Meetings of Steering Committee and Apex Committee have taken place and the funds for project have been released and the work on Traceability, Certification and Branding of Kasturi India Cotton has begun.

He appealed to TEXPROCIL to make aggressive efforts to brand Kasturi cotton as premium cotton in domestic and international markets.

Final approval for Holistic plan to enhance cotton productivity by targeting the technology of HDPS, Closer Spacing and ELS with an amount of Rs. 4186.85 lakhs was obtained from MoA&FW under NFSM. Cluster-wise identification of villages/farmers has been finalized in Rajasthan and the same is in progress in all the remaining cotton growing states where sowing will be taken up for the ensuing cotton season 2023-24.

Shri Goyal emphasized the need for strengthening certification systems for organic cotton and requested industry for active participation in promotion of organic cotton production amongst cotton farmers. Hon’ble Minister advised to form a working group of experts, representative from industry, respective Ministries & other stakeholders to have detailed plan of action to boost organic cotton production on cluster based approach.

Smt. Darshana V. Jardosh, Hon’ble Minister of State for Textiles and Railways and TAG Chairman Shri Suresh Kotak also guided the TAG meeting.

Smt Rachna Shah, Secretary, Ministry of Textiles, appealed to all cotton value chain stakeholders to work together in a cohesive manner to achieve the Hon’ble PM’s dream of five F’s from Farm to Foreign in the Cotton Textile Value Chain and regain Supremacy in Cotton to enhance value returns to producers.

Representatives from Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, CCI, APEDA, BIS, other senior officials from related Ministries and stakeholders from entire cotton value chain were also present during the meeting.