Business perspective and entrepreneurship opportunities in cotton stalk by-product based industry in India

Abstract

Annually around 30 million tonnes of cotton stalk is generated in India. Very limited value addition is done to cotton stalk. Most of the cotton stalk produced is treated as waste, though about 5-6% being used for commercial purposes and around 15-20% is used as fuel by rural masses and remaining bulk of cotton stalk is burnt off in the field after leading to severe environmental pollution. Cotton stalk is comparable to most common species of hardwood in respect of fibrous structure and chemical composition. Cotton stalk contains 60% hello cellulose, 27% lignin and 6% ash. The calorific value of cotton stalk is about 4000 kcal/kg. The present paper discusses various techno-economically viable technologies developed and commercialized through value addition to cotton by-products by ICAR-Central institute for Research on Cotton Technology (CIRCOT), Mumbai. As cellulose and lignin content is more in cotton stalk, it can be used for making particle boards, further it can be used for manufacture of briquettes and pellets as renewable source of energy and power generation as it has good calorific value. Cotton stalk can be converted to bio-enriched compost and can be used to cultivate edible mushroom. These technologies has created additional source of income to farmers, source of renewable energy, entrepreneurship opportunities for promotion of rural based industries and employment generation for rural youths in cotton growing areas. Further these technologies helped to convert waste to wealth and helped in protecting environment. Further it needs to be strengthened and promoted so that more number of farmers are benefitted. The economic business opportunities can be realized by establishing cotton by-product based industries to move towards sustainable development.