The cotton economy in the country is faced with various problems and several steps need to be taken to regain lost glory. The major issue facing the industry today is the rise in consumption of man-made fibre (MMF).

Currently, the price of cotton is comparatively higher than the MMF and the MMF has thrown up a formidable challenge from all angles of quality, durability, price factor and availability as well.

Cotton has become a luxury, affordable to the elite class, a completely divergent trend from cotton being a product of mass consumption some decades back. According to a paper presented by the president of the East India Cotton Association, Suresh Kotak, to the International Cotton Advisory Committee (ICAC), fluctuation in annual cotton production and the resultant price volatility has promoted the use of man-madefibre.

The paper that highlights other issues of cotton has found acceptance and has been adopted as a resolution by the ICAC.

The wide rift between cotton and MMF can be classified into three categories.The first and foremost weakness is cotton being an agricultural commodity is susceptible to the vagaries of nature and this cannot be changed. Second, fibre properties cannot withstand the high-speed machineries that are used to convert the fibre into yarn. Third contamination and lower level of cleanliness also attribute to problems in spinning and weaving which result more in waste affecting fabric productions.

Kotak's remedy for the grave problems lay in increasing productivity and reducing production cost, checking large fluctuations in production, minimising contamination and taking up promotional programmes to create more awareness about the advantages of cotton.

To tackle the nature's vagaries, efforts in the direction of reducing nutrition cost, shortening crop duration, breeding pestresistant cotton, exploiting hybrid technology on a wider scale are required. Besides steps to evolve more productive seed varieties, raising ginning out-turn and breeding for higher oil content in seeds will sharpen cotton's competitiveness with not only MMF but also other crops are also required.

In order to minimise the effect from the caprices of the weather, adoption of modern technology in farming needs to be implemented. Soil and water management alongwith adequate plant nutrition and proper plant protection will mitigate the ill-effects of the weather to a large extent.

Moderating price behaviour is a challenging task. Policy of releasing export quotas on a regular basis and free import of cotton has helped a lot and futures trading, to be introduced soon, will further provide the hedge to traders, growers and users as well.

The above steps need to be implemented on a war-footing basis to revive the sagging cotton economy and thus providing the means to millions of farmers, weavers, workers andothers.