Mini Mission I with Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) as Nodal Agency has the following objectives:
(i)
Mini Mission - I will deal with the Cotton Research and
Development for Improvement of varieties and development of production technology for improvement of production and quality of cotton.
Research Priorities :
Research priorities under Mini Mission 1 are as follows:-
(i)
Development of superior medium staple varities (27-28 mm fibre lenath) alongwith good strength and micronaire with short duration and resistance to pest for the imgated Northern belt of the Country.
(ii)
Development of medium/superior medium and extra long staple varieties/hybrids with short duration and resistance to pest for different agro-ecological regions of the country and desi hybrids for rainfed regions.
(iii)
Incorporation of genes for "resistance to pest from cultivated/wild/alien sources through convential/genetic
engineering.
(iv)
Delineation of areas for sustainable cotton production baseo on soil site characteristics and agro-ecological conditions. The Soil Site characteristics for different varieties/hybrids with different: fibre quality characteristics need to be determined for demarcating areas for cultivation of those varieties and hybrics.
(v)
Studies on water management for both rainwater ana irrigate:; water for optimising water use. In this context it is important to identify areas suitable for drip irrigation system, particularly in the rainfed regions.
(vi)
Development of Integrated Nutrient Management for cotton anc cotton based cropping system, such as Cotton-wheat, Cotton-rice, cotton + intercrops such as green gram, soyabean, groundnut etc., for maximising production of both cotton and other crops in the system and possibilities of reducing fertiliser use.
(vii)
Development of alternative pest management tactics for reducing our sole reliance on pesticides (IPM). Integrated Pest Management (IPM) indudes use of resistant varieties, parasites and predators, mechanicalfy collecting pests and killing them and use of judicious use of chemicals to reduce cost of production and improve yieid.
(ix)
Development of location specific technologies for non-traditionai areas such as, Orissa, rice fallows of West Bengal and Tamil Nadu.
Improvement OF Existing VARIETIES and CHECKING Muliplicity OF VARIETIES
(i)
It has been seen that lately the quality of most of the varieties of India cotton is deteriorating. Genetic improvement for better micronaire and better strength should receive priority in Fibre Technology Research.
(ii)
It is necessary to provide guidelines and directions to the cotton scientists regarding fibre parameters of new varieties through a Committee, Instead of releasing new varieties, until and unless, it is with some specific objectives and requirements, efforts should be made to strengthen the parameters of existing varieties only.
(iii)
Multiplicity of varieties is an important source of contamination of Indian cotton due to ad-mixture of varieties grown in one area. Serious efforts are needed to reduce the number of varieties by preventing indiscriminate reiease of varieties without taking into consideration the requirement of the textile mills and also indiscriminate release of Research Hybrids by the Private Seed Companies.
(iv)
Private seed producers release hybrids to farmers in the name of RESEARCH HYBRIDS without reference to the Variety Release Committee. Such Private seed companies have increased considerably in the country in recent times. There is therefore, need to streamline the system and bring them under disdpline of All India Co-ordinated Cotton Improvement Project and release of hybrids should first be approved by the Committee under AICCIP. Some private bred hybrids are good and popular amongst farmers. There is need to register them.
(a)
It was pointed out that as the major problem is the
release of material by private seed producers, the only
solution is to ensure that the private seed producers
also follow the established procedures for identification
and release of varieties/hybrids.
(b)
In this context, it was deemed necessary to look into
the provisions of the Seed Act of 1966 and examine the
possibility of introducing amendments to them, so as to
provide a legal framework for bringing in better
discipline in the system of seed production and
distribution, with the ultimate object of safeguarding
farmers from being victims to the supply of spurious
seeds and seeas of unsuitable and non-recommended
types.
We have suggested to Ministry of Agriculture that the
Centra! Committee on Crop Standards, Release and Notification of varieties of the Ministry of Agriculture should have representations from trade
the Ministry of agricultur should have reprepresentatations from trade preferably CCI and Indian Cotton Mills Federation. It has also
been suggested that a Committee under the aegies of All India Co ordinated Cotton Improvement Project of ICAR should scrutinize and approve all varieties including that of private sector prior to release. This Committee also should have representation from the trade and the industry.
VARIETAL IDENTIFICAITON COMMITTEE:
A Varietal Identification Committee has been constituted by Cotton
Advisory Board of the Ministry of Textiles with the objective of
identification of minimum number of varieties/hybrids for each agro-
climatic region in which cotton is grown in the country. The
Committee has given its recommendations, which is expected to be discussed during the next CAB meeting. The Committee has been able
to drastically reduce the number of varieties for each zone
