India’s average cotton yield of around 530 kg per hectare is in stark contrast to about 1,500 kg achieved by some of the advanced countries such as Australia, Brazil, China, Israel, Mexico, Turkey among others. Kotak called for an introspection on production techniques, and stressed on the development of integrated crop management technology with a blend of drip irrigation and fertilisation - fertigation - for improved water management. This is deemed necessary as nearly 60% of India's cotton area is under rainfed conditions. Since Independence, India’s cotton area and yield has jumped multifold from 43 lakh hectares and 70 kg in 1947 to 133 lakh hectares and over 500 kg yield at present with about 80 lakh farmers growing cotton. Expressing concerns over India’s persistently lower cotton yields, J Thulasidharan, President, Indian Cotton Federation (ICF), said, “The yield has been stagnant or falling in last few years. If it doesn’t improve, India will become a cotton deficient nation in the next 6-7 years,” he said. Further, the CCI CMD called for cultivating better and uniform varieties on larger areas. “Earlier the concept was of one-village, one-variety, which has confused farmers on which variety to sow. We need to expand it to one-district, one-variety or one-state, one-variety, for a uniform quality,” he said.