Delegates from the Ethiopian government and textile industry as part of their study tour in India visited Government PolytechnicNagpur (GPN) last week, to know about cotton growing methods and development in cotton textiles.

The delegation from Ethiopia included eight top officials from Ethiopian Industry Input Development Enterprise, Ethiopian Textile Industry Development Institute, Cotton Producers, Ginners and Exporters Association Ethiopia, Ministry of Agriculture and Natural resources and Ministry of Industry.

Deepak Kulkarni, GPN's head of Textiles Manufacturing Department, said that it was an industry-institute interaction meet on cotton growth and development in Vidarbha region. The objective of organizing the meet was to bring experts in the field of cotton growth and development on one platform.

Vidarbha region, which comprises 11 districts in eastern Maharashtra, is the largest cotton producer in state. Vidarbha region could be the next emerging zone for textile operations as they have a strong agriculture base and has attracted number of diverse industries ranging from food processing, textiles, power engineering, logistics etc.

Shrikant Gadge, a local textile consultant present at the seminar said that Vidarbha contributes up to 30% of cotton crop in India. The state has attracted huge investment in the textile sector during last 4-5 years. Cotton related small and medium scale industries would be promoted in the region. Recently,

Maharashtra has sanctioned Rs 2000 crore for the region for Farm-to-Fashion drive project.

The cotton growth and development has seen a significant progress in last few years in the region.