Discuss the importance and geographical distribution of cotton farming?
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Answer:
India is considered the home of arboreums. G.herbaceum might have been introduced into western India from Arabia, Persia and Baluchistan and from race acerifolium. The barbadense seems to have evolved in South America as a wild species, which later evolved into cultivated species.
The native perennial barbodense has given rise to Tanguis cottons, which are ratooned and represent 90 per cent of the Peruvian crop. Cytological studies indicate that all the four species are monophyletic (evolved from a single interspecific hybrid combination). G. hirsutum must have moved from the center of diversity near the border of Mexico and Guatemala.
Cotton is the most important vegetable fibre cultivated in about 60 countries in the world. The countries such as Russia, USA, China, India, Brazil, Pakistan, Turkey, Egypt, Mexico and Sudan account for about 85 per cent of the total cotton production.
Cotton, the king of fibres, is an industrial commodity of worldwide importance. It is one of the most important commercial crops playing a key role in economic and social affairs of the world. The Arabic word qutun or kutun has given rise to English word cotton. Similarly, it is kateon in Dutch, colon in French, cottone in Italian and algodon in Spanish.
Despite the recent setbacks, cotton continues to remain the backbone of Indian rural economy, particularly in dryland areas. Besides being a monetary spinner, it is an employment generator as its cultivation provides 200 man- days ha-1 of employment. About 60 M people earn their livelihood through its cultivation or trade and processing.
The current crisis in cotton revolves around the main issues such as rising cost of production, hiked use of pesticides without adequate pest suppression, inability to enhance production during the bountiful monsoon due to ineffective water management, deterioration in genetic purity of the multitude of cotton cultivars, inadequate price support and paucity of infrastructure to ensure value addition products at farmers’ level.
Given the present market scenario, cotton growers need to reorient their approach to the package of practices that they follow to cultivate cotton. Wasteful input use with wishful thinking of more harvest needs to be dissuaded.