An ambitious five-year Cotton Productivity Mission announced with much promise in last year’s Union Budget has failed to move beyond official files, raising concerns among farmers and policy watchers about the government’s commitment to reviving India’s struggling cotton sector.
Despite being pitched as a transformative initiative aimed at boosting productivity, sustainability and farmer incomes, the mission has not received any fresh allocation in the Union Budget 2026-27, effectively putting its future in doubt.
While presenting the Budget for 2025-26, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had announced the launch of the Cotton Productivity Mission, describing it as a major step in the interest of millions of cotton farmers across the country. The proposed mission was to run for five years and focus on increasing yields, promoting extra-long staple cotton varieties and using advanced science and technology to make cotton cultivation more sustainable.
The announcement was aligned with the government’s ‘5F’ vision for the textile sector, which seeks to integrate the value chain from farm to fashion. At the time, the declaration drew attention because cotton farmers had been grappling with stagnant yields, rising input costs, pest attacks and volatile market prices.
However, when the Union Budget for 2026-27 was presented on February 1, there was no mention of the Cotton Productivity Mission in the Finance Minister’s speech. Although a provision of Rs 500 crore had been made for a cotton-related technology mission in the previous budget, no allocation has been made for the scheme in the current financial year.
The absence has sparked questions about whether the mission is being delayed indefinitely or quietly dropped, even as cotton farmers continue to face agronomic and economic stress.
Official documents indicate that the mission has remained confined to bureaucratic processes. According to the Ministry of Finance’s document on the Implementation of Budget Announcements (2025-26), the proposal linked to the Cotton Productivity Mission was discussed at multiple levels but has not progressed to execution.
A concept note jointly prepared by the Department of Agricultural Research and Education and the Ministry of Textiles was presented at a meeting of the Textile Advisory Group on Cotton in May 2025. This was followed by another meeting in November 2025 involving secretaries from several ministries, including textiles, environment, biotechnology, science and technology, and scientific research.
Based on these discussions, the concept note was revised and an Expenditure Finance Committee proposal is still being finalised for inter-ministerial consultations, with further reviews pending.
The lack of budgetary backing suggests that the mission remains a proposal on paper rather than an operational programme on the ground. With no funds earmarked for implementation in 2026-27, uncertainty looms over whether cotton farmers will see any real benefits in the near future.
Experts warn that repeated delays weaken confidence in policy announcements and undermine efforts to address long-standing issues in cotton cultivation, including low productivity, quality concerns and farmer distress.
The stalled cotton mission reflects a broader pattern in which high-profile budget announcements take years to materialise, if they do at all. While policy intent is often articulated with urgency, execution tends to get slowed by administrative clearances, overlapping jurisdictions and shifting priorities.
For cotton farmers, the gap between promise and delivery remains wide. As another cropping season approaches, the question persists: will the Cotton Productivity Mission ever move beyond files and meetings, or will it join the growing list of well-intentioned schemes that never reach the fields?