Environmental sustainability challenges in cotton value chain: how is India responding to these challenges?

Promotion of environmentally-sustainable cotton has emerged as a major policy concern globally. This paper sheds light on the role of Indian government policy to ensure delivery of better and sustainable cotton production and consumption along the value chain.

The paper explains that the universe of regulatory framework governing cotton production and consumption is India’s agricultural policy in general and textile sector policy in particular. It also clarifies that as a result of various policy initiatives by the government, consumption of chemical pesticides has been reduced and use of bio-pesticides has increased as better replacement. Furthermore, besides the governmental initiatives, some private players have also shown active participation in the direction of sustainable cotton production.

Complementarily, the author recommends that:

• there is a need for capacity building of farmers to help them to convert their knowledge on sustainable practices to ground action, through appropriate economic initiatives and awareness programmes
• wider dissemination of more environmental-friendly cotton technologies are required; partnership between government and non-government agencies at the district level could be created to implement programs
• policy initiatives are required to integrate the environmental and social impact into the economic value of cotton; it is crucial that “better management practices” are integrated in India’s overall cotton production