The Southern India Mills’ Association Cotton Development & Research Association (SIMA CD&RA) recently appealed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to launch Technology Mission on Cotton 2.0 to increase the yield from 500 kg per hectare to 750 kg per hectare in the next five years, double farmers’ income and sustain the same without minimum support price (MSP) operations.

The appeal came from R Ravichandran, director of Veejay Yarns & Fabrics Pvt Ltd, who was elected as chairman of SIMA CD&RA at its 45th annual general meeting recently in Coimbatore.

G Venkatramachandran, managing director (MD) of Laven Technoblend Ltd, and S K Sundararaman, MD of Shiva Texyarn Ltd, were elected as deputy chairman and vice chairman respectively for 2020-21.

The association has also been active in upgrading the skills of cotton farmers across South India for improving productivity, reducing cost of production and improving quality, it said in a press release.

Shakthi BT and SIMA Platinum cotton varieties developed by the association have been recently certified and are ready for commercial use.