Project of Sustainable Cotton Initiative in Gujarat with WWF (India)

To go towards the Climate-Smart-Agriculture, GGRC and WWF (India) come together to promote Good Agriculture Practices (GAP) for cotton crop among farmers to have sustainable cotton productivity. In order to inculcate the best eco friendly agriculture practices in cotton growing areas , the GGRC will implement the Sustainable (better) cotton initiative project in cotton growing areas of Gujarat State among the Drip adopted farmers with the help of agronomists of GGRC as well as 65 nos. of registered Micro Irrigation Suppliers.

WWF is a leading conservation organization with a global network, active in more than 100 countries working on issues related to biodiversity conservation and sustainable development. 

Gujarat Green Revolution Company Limited and WWF (World Wide Fund for Nature-India) have entered in to MOU on the project “Sustainable Cotton initiative in Gujarat”. GGRC will implement the project wherein cotton growing farmers of Gujarat State are the participations.

Gujarat is the largest producer of cotton growing and contributing 35% of total cotton production in the country. The total area under cotton cultivation in Gujarat is 2.45 million hectares of which 0.35 million hectares is under drip irrigation. The average annual productivity is 650 Kg/Ha of lint cotton and total production is of 7.5 million bales. Sustainability of cotton farming is imperative as livelihood and prosperity of large number of farmers and their family as well as viability of cotton based   industries depends on sustainable cotton productivity. 

Objectives of the MoU with WWF-India

1. Judicious use of inputs for better production of cotton
2. Improvement in conditions for farming communities and workers, specifically in the areas of financial profitability
3. Reduction in the impact of water and pesticides use on human and environmental health
4. Improvement in soil health and biodiversity with minimum use of agrochemicals
5. Improvement in the quality of cotton fibre through post-harvest techniques like clean picking and storage

Activities carried out by GGRC under the project:

1. MOU signed with WWF-India on 20^th October, 2015
2. Selection of cotton growing Area/ Districts.
3. Meeting with cotton growing farmers of various villages/ taluka in selected districts.
4.  Formation of 86 clusters & allotting MIS Suppliers involving GGRC- Jr. Officer (Field Operation) in presence of WWF officials in 12 talukas of 9 districts on 18.11.2015.
5. Farmer wise base line survey details are going on for study and analysis of present adopted practices in farming.
6. As per the request of WWF, GGRC has published an advertisement for recruitment of discipline-wise experienced Ph.D/M.Sc.(Agri) for the fulfilment of objectives of project.
7.  As suggested by WWF-India/IKEA,GGRC has planned and finished exposure visit of various Ginning & Spinning mill for educating farmers regarding difficulties for clean picking and storage of product.    View  Images  Cotton Doctor Mobile App