The United Nations (UN)’s World Cotton Day (WCD) is annually observed across the globe on 7 October to show the enduring positive impact on Cotton and raise awareness of the importance of cotton and cotton-related products.
- 7th October 2022 marks the observance of the 4th World Cotton Day.
According to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations, the theme for World Cotton Day 2022 is ‘Weaving a better future for Cotton’.
Background:
i. The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) adopted the resolution A/RES/75/318 on 30th August 2021 and declared 7 October of each year as World Cotton Day.
ii. World Cotton Day was launched at the World Trade Organization (WTO) in Geneva, Switzerland on 7th October 2019 in collaboration with the Secretariats of FAO, United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), International Trade Centre (ITC) and International Cotton Advisory Committee (ICAC).
iii. The 1st ever World Cotton Day was observed on 7th October 2019.
Key Points:
i. World Cotton Day 2022 is opened by QU Dongyu, FAO Director-General, to highlight the crucial role the cotton sector plays for Members as well as its broader economic and social relevance around the world.
ii. The day is focused on the importance of the cotton sector for the achievement of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Sustainable Development Goals.
iii. In 2003, the WTO initiated World Cotton Day by the 4 cotton producers in Sub-Saharan Africa: Benin, Burkina Faso, Chad and Mali, popularly known as Cotton Four.
Objective:
WCD, a global observance is to raise the visibility of the cotton sector and awareness of the critical role that it plays in economic development, international trade and poverty alleviation.
Cotton:Â
i. Cotton, one of the world’s leading agricultural crops to make cotton products relatively inexpensive.
ii. It occupies 2.1% of the world’s arable land and meets 27% of the world’s textile needs.
iii. A single tonne of Cotton provides year-round employment for 5 people on average, often in some of the poorest regions.
Note: In India, Maharashtra is the leading producer of cotton followed by Gujarat.
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)-FAO Agriculture Outlook 2022-2031:
i. The main producing countries are India, China, the United States, Brazil, and Pakistan, which contribute more than 3 quarters of global production.
- India’s forecast for cotton production shows an upward trend with around 27.5 million bales in the year 2022-2023.
ii. World cotton production in 2022-2023 is forecast at 121.1 million bales, 2.6 million above the year before.
About the International Cotton Advisory Committee (ICAC):
Executive Director- Kai Hughes
Headquarters- Washington, D.C., United States
Establishment- 1939
