World Cotton Day: History, Significance, And Reasons To Support The Most Important Natural Fibre

Take advantage of World Cotton Day to show your support for the world’s most important natural fibre. It is a day dedicated to celebrating the benefits of cotton, starting with its natural fibre quality and all the benefits people get from its cultivation, conversion, trade, and consumption.

History of Cotton & World Cotton Day: 

• How much is old cotton? No one knows precisely!! But we’ve also found its evidence in the Indus Valley civilization, where it was being cultivated, spun & woven into cloth about 5000 years ago.
• However, because of the industrial revolution in England, cotton was first spun by machinery in England around 1730. The invention of the cotton gin in the U.S.A. made cotton one of the most important crops today.
• The WTO inaugurated world Cotton Day in Geneva on October 7, 2019. It was started by the Group of Cotton-4 countries, namely Benin, Chad, Burkina Faso, and Mali, to highlight the importance of cotton as a global commodity produced worldwide.

Significance of the Day:

• Celebrations of the day aim to promote sustainable trade policies and enable developing countries to benefit at every step of the cotton value chain.
• It will also shed light on the challenges cotton growers face across the world as cotton is important to least develop, develop, and developed economies worldwide.
• This day also gives recognition & exposure to cotton and all related stakeholders in production & trade, coordinates with donors & beneficiaries, and strengthens development assistance for cotton.
• On this day, we can enhance new collaborations with the private sector and investors for the cotton-related industries and production in developing countries and promote technological advances and further research and development on cotton.

Reasons to Support Cotton- Cultivation: 

• Cotton is a global commodity grown in about 75 countries across 5 continents and traded worldwide. Our country is the 2nd largest producer of cotton in the world after China.
• Being a drought-resistant crop, it’s ideal for arid climates and occupies just 2.1 % of the world’s arable land, still, it meets about 27% of the world’s textiles need.
• In the case of employment generation, a single ton of cotton provides year-round employment for five people on average. So, it also provides help in poverty alleviation across the globe.
• Additionally, its fiber is used in textiles & apparel, food products are also derived from cotton-like edible oil and animal feed from the seed.
• It is also eco-friendly, as it biodegrades rapidly compared to other synthetic alternatives, reducing the number of plastics entering the waterways and helping to keep our oceans clean.

Apart from the above discussion, the Indian Government implemented a Cotton Technical Assistance Programme (Cotton TAP-I) for seven African countries, namely Benin, Mali, Burkina Faso, Chad, Uganda, Malawi, and Nigeria during 2011-18.

Let’s Show Your Support to Cotton Growers on this World Cotton Day!!