World Cotton Day 2021: Find out the humble crop's role in keeping countries afloat

World Cotton Day is celebrated annually on 7 October. Cotton is a global commodity grown in over 75 countries across five continents and traded worldwide. World Cotton Day is an opportunity to highlight its role in creating jobs and maintaining economic stability in least-developed countries. Celebrations marking the day aim to foster sustainable trade policies and to enable developing countries to benefit from every step of the cotton value chain. History: The Cotton-4 nations of Benin, Chad, Mail, and Burkina Faso made an official proposal to the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) for the establishment of World Cotton Day. One of the largest cotton organisations in the world, the Bremen Cotton Exchange, also supported the idea. The World Trade Organization (WTO) and the International Cotton Advisory Committee (ICAC) established the World Cotton Day on 7 October 2019, with the inaugural day being held in the WTO’s headquarters in Geneva. Theme: This year, the theme for World Cotton Day is “Cotton for Good”. The event will be organised virtually, with speakers from various countries taking part to make people aware of the importance of the crop. The theme reflects the value it brings in the form of employment, protecting the environment from plastic pollution, and more. Significance: Cotton as a product has several uses — the fibre is used in textiles and clothing while its seed is used as animal fodder. The crop also yields food products such as edible oil from its seeds. It provides employment in some of the least developed countries in the world, according to ICAC. Cotton is a significant crop for India, with over six million farmers employed in its cultivation. The country is the largest consumer and the second-largest producer of fibre. On the second World Cotton Day, India introduced its very first logo and label “Kasturi Cotton”. The trademark stands for purity, brightness, whiteness, softness, individuality, and shine. The Cotton Corporation of India has also built the ‘Cott-Ally’ smartphone application to offer farmers the most recent information on crop situations, weather conditions, and agricultural methods related to the crop.