After a wait of 16 years, the Central Institute for Research on Cotton Technology (CIRCOT) again bagged the Sardar Patel Outstanding ICAR Institution Award (small Institute) from among other 100 institutes affiliated to the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), last month. Established in 1924 by the Indian Central Cotton Committee, the latest recognition for CIRCOT came in its fifth attempt since 2014. In an interview to TOI, director PG Patil talks about the institute’s research, achievements and contribution to society.
Excerpts…
Q. What does the award stand for?
A. It is the highest honour conferred by the ICAR, which is the apex body coordinating, guiding and managing agricultural research and education in the country. The annual award is conferred during ICAR’s foundation day celebration on July 16. It has 101 affiliated institutes apart from various national research centres and 71 agricultural universities. It is one of the largest national agricultural system in the world. Institutes doing good in their mandate, contributing to research, extension and society are selected for the coveted award. This is the second time CIRCOT bagged the top award after 2004. Once an Institute receives the award, it is eligible to apply for the award only after 10 years. The 2019-20 award that came CIRCOT’s way carries a cash prize of Rs10 lakh, a citation and a plaque.
Q. Why did it take six years to win the award again?
A. We were applying but couldn’t make it as the competition was tough. We were continuously working hard and improving ourselves. The achievement is a result of the contribution from all the staff working from Mumbai headquarters, the regional Ginning Training Centre in Nagpur, units at Sirsa, Surat, Guntur, Dharwad, and Coimbatore.
Q. What is you major contribution to society?
A. CIRCOT is basically working in basic and strategic research on processing of cotton, ago residuals, development of value-added product and quality assessment of cotton and textile material. Apart from this, we are contributing in skill development programmes covering ginning, spinning, chemical and bio-chemical processing, besides specialized training programmes. We have a business incubation centre where we are honing skills and nurture new enterprise in the area of post-harvest processing of cotton and value addition to biomass. CIRCOT is a referral laboratory for textile testing in the country. We conduct 160 tests on textile and cotton related products. Precisely, 60 technologies were developed, 17 of which have been commercialized, 20 incubates have been graduated, 200 skill development programmes were conducted for the farmers, ginning personnel, traders, industrial stakeholders, research scholars, students and academicians in the last five years. These are the highlights of the achievement for five years which is the span for performance evaluation by the ICAR committee for the award.
Q. How does it help the industry?
A. We provide research consultancy and commercial testing service for the industry and have tested more than 2 lakh samples for quality evaluation. The cotton production has increased by 2.5 times in the last 20 years. From 140 lakh bales, we are producing 360 lakh bales in 2019-20. With our assistance, the ginning industry has created the capacity to process this increased production volume. Having proper capacity to gin cotton, we can complete the season in time without any extensions. Apart from this, we signed 41 MoUs with private companies apart from international bodies. Rs6.2 crore was generated as revenue by the institute from consultancy, product development, testing and contract research.
Q. What is calibration cotton?
A. It is a standard reference material used for calibration of the high volume instruments used for fibre quality testing. Every day, before the instrument are used to test the fibre properties, they have to be calibrated. For calibration, reference material is required. CIRCOT is probably the only institute in the World after the USDA to produce and supply calibration cotton to the industry.
Q. What kind of innovations does CIRCOT work on?
A. We have developed India’s first nano technology pilot plant. It has the capacity to convert 10kg raw material, cotton as well as cellulosic biomass into nano size in one shift of 8 hours. We had been working in the research field of nanotechnology for more than a decade. It is part of our research as cotton is derived from cellulose. Nano cellulose can find its application in many industry like paper and pulp, cement, paint, etc. It is a high value product from cotton. We are working in cutting edge technology as well as traditional research. The institute gives a special focus on value addition to the biomass. We are processing the particle board as a value added product from cotton stalks. Now, we can’t say cotton stalks is a waste as we can make value added products like particle board, briquettes, pellets and convert them into eco-friendly compost, etc. We have established a pilot plant facility for preparation of the particle board, and pellet at Nagpur.
Q. Does CIRCOT work on other products?
A. We are working on other natural fibres like banana which is grown in a large area in Maharasthra. After harvesting of the banana fruit, the disposal of pseudostem is a problem. We can convert these pseudostems into fibre followed by development of biodegradable and eco-friendly moulded products like plates, cups, sapling pots, etc. Very good composite can also be developed from it for use in automobiles and for home furnishing.
Q. How was the experiment at APMC Hinghanghat?
A. It is an initiative towards lint-based cotton trading based on the objective evaluation of ginning percentage. The seed cotton coming directly from the field carries fibre as well as seed. The fibre part varies from 34 to 39%. Its cost, as compared to the seed is almost five times higher. Suppose the seed is selling for Rs20 per kg, fibre will fetch Rs120. The rates are negotiated by the traders considering the ginning percentage at 35%. Depending on the variety, there can be 39% fibre too. This means the trader would be getting 4% or 4kg more lint in every 100kg. Farmers were not getting this benefit. Hence, we have piloted a project to make it lint-based trading. Every sample from the cotton farmer should be ginned in a small ginning machine installed in the Hinghanghat APMC to ascertain the lint percentage. Even if the lint percentage comes to 36%, the trader should pay an extra premium of Rs100 per quintal to the farmer above what he is offering. We are telling APMC to adopt this formula for the farmer’s benefit. It is not mandatory, but we are pursuing it with the textile commissioner. There is a need to formulate by-laws or even a new legislation for it.
Q. What is status of the coloured-cotton trial?
A. CIRCOT entered into a three-party MoU with CICR Nagpur and PDKV Akola to promote naturally coloured cotton by increasing the production and development of value added products. Earlier, we grew it on 20 acres of PDKV land in Akola. This year, it has been increased to 50 acres in isolation as part of the large scale trial. The naturally-coloured cotton produced in the field will be processed by CIRCOT converting the fibres into yarn and fabric and further develop it into value added products to create a unique value chain for its promotion among the farmers.
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