Vidarbha, in Maharashtra is amongst the maximum cotton growing region that contributes 30 percent of the crop followed by Marathwada regions. The Maharashtra government is working on a exhaustive policy to integrate six distressed districts of Vidarbha through 80 percent cotton industry to restore its tag of “white gold”.

The policy intends to address problems of farmers in the country’s largest cotton growing belt across Nagpur, Amravati, Akola, Buldhana, Yavatmal, Washim and Wardha.

Chief minister, Devendra Fadnavis directed the officials to expedite work to transform Amravati district as the international textile hub of the country. The detailed plan includes integrating three nodal departments of textile, finance and agricuture, to work towards attaining the target of the ambitious project.

The government also intends to promote the textile sector through public-private-partnership. Highly placed sources in the government revealed that the state government will spend Rs2,000 crore in the region as part of the farm-to-fashion drive.

The value added chain to integrate farmers with the textile industry is lacking for which the Maharashtra had been pushing hard to seek higher minimum support price from the centre for cotton. However, the centre has fixed MSP at Rs 4,100 per quintal.