Days after the domestic traders? body forecast India to pip China as the world?s largest cotton producer, the International Cotton Advisory Council (ICAC) has sought to put a reality check, reports Banikinkar Pattanayak in New Delhi. According to the latest ICAC report, although the two countries would ?vie for the title of the largest producer of cotton?, China could produce 6.4 million tonnes in 2014-15, while India?s output will likely trail at 6.3 million tonnes.
While the Cotton Association of India (CAI) says its prediction of 6.73 million tonnes for India is still ?conservative?, the ICAC forecast pointed to the big gap in productivity in the two countries. While China will likely produce 1,500 kg per hectare in 2014-15, India?s productivity is put at just 536 kg, lower than 933 kg in the US ? the world?s third-largest producer and biggest exporter ? and even below the expected average global yield level of 750 kg.
So despite having just 4.2 million hectares under the crop in 2014-15, China’s cotton production would be marginally higher than that of India, where planting has hit a near-record level of 11.80 million hectares.
This brings to the fore the point that despite the introduction of Bt cotton in India around a decade ago, which pushed productivity from 302 kg per hectare in 2002-03, much needs to be done to catch up with China. The silver lining is the area available for planting in India is higher than in China. So if better farm practices are adopted and a solid irrigation network is established in Maharashtra ? where the yield per hectare (369 kg) trailed Gujarat’s 758 kg and all-India average of 565 kg in 2013-14 ? cotton output will rise substantially. In 2013-14, despite accounting for 33% of the total area under cotton, the state’s share in overall production was 21.5%, according to Cotton Corporation of India data.