New Delhi, May 5: The Union Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has approved a budget of ₹5,659.22 crore for the Cotton Productivity Mission. This initiative aims to address challenges in India’s cotton sector, including declining growth and quality concerns, from 2026-27 to 2030-31.
The mission aligns with the government’s vision of “Farm to Fiber to Factory to Fashion to Foreign.” Its primary goal is to enhance cotton productivity through the development of high-yielding, disease-resistant varieties (HYVs) of seeds. It will promote the adoption of existing and innovative crop production technologies through state governments, agricultural science centers, and state agricultural universities. The mission also aims to ensure a supply of low-pollution cotton to the industry and boost the export of high-quality cotton.
Key aspects include the development of climate-resilient and pest-resistant seeds, as well as the promotion of advanced cotton production techniques such as High-Density Planting System (HDPS) and Integrated Cotton Management. The initiative will also modernize ginning and processing factories to improve cotton quality and adopt best processing practices.
To ensure reliable quality assessment and global standardization, the mission will strengthen cotton testing infrastructure across the country with modern, standardized, and accredited facilities.
The initiative aims to establish Indian cotton as a premium, sustainable, and globally trusted product through strong branding and traceability efforts under the Muscat Cotton India initiative. It will empower farmers through digital integration of market mandis, enabling transparent pricing, direct market access, and better profit realization via e-platforms.
Additionally, the mission will promote the recycling of cotton waste and circular economy systems to enhance resource efficiency, reduce environmental impact, and generate additional value for the industry.
The diversification of India’s fiber base will include promoting eco-friendly textile production and innovations involving natural fibers like flax, ramie, sisal, milkweed, bamboo, and banana. The mission will strategically integrate and encourage cotton as a complementary fiber, adapting the textile sector to changing global demands.
The Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare, along with the Ministry of Textiles, will implement this mission. It involves ten institutes from the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), one institute from the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), and various state agricultural universities (SAUs) in major cotton-producing states. Initially, the focus will be on 140 districts across 14 states to expand technologies and establish 2,000 ginning/processing factories.
The mission aims to increase cotton productivity from 440 kg/hectare to 755 kg/hectare by 2031, producing 49.8 million bales (each weighing 170 kg). This initiative is expected to benefit approximately 3.2 million farmers, enhancing their self-sufficiency. The mission also targets reducing waste to less than 2% while promoting natural fibers such as flax, ramie, sisal, milkweed, bamboo, and banana. This represents a significant step towards making the cotton sector self-reliant.
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