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Cotton holds a premier position among fibers. Clothing made of the cotton fiber have been used since prehistoric times. In India textiles were woven with great skill several hundred years before the Christian era. Cotton is a demanding crop: moisture restricted to a limited growing period within 60 to 86 cm rainfall zone, rich clayey soils and availability of abundant, cheap labor. Growth of the crop is, thus restricted to certain regions, usually named as the “cotton belt.”
Over 50 percent of the world’s cotton (lint) is obtained from four Asian nations (China, Pakistan, India and Turkey), the remaining comes from the United States and the rest of the world. Until the turn of the century the United States was the only important producer in the world.
Production increased rapidly elsewhere since the 1930s particularly in the Indian subcontinent, due largely to the establishment of canal colonies in the Indus basin (area now in Pakistan) and the northern Indian plains during the British rule. More recently, since 1950, Pakistan, India and China stepped up their production considerably.
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By 1970 China had emerged as the largest producer, outpacing both the U.S.A. and the USSR Meanwhile, production in Pakistan had been rapidly increasing. In 1971 its production was nearly one-half that of India; but in 1991 the production of cotton lint in Pakistan was 2.1 million metric tons as compared to 1.9 million metric tons produced in India.
The principal area of production in Pakistan is the “canal colonies” region in the Middle Indus basin, and in India the Deccan Plateau, particularly the northwestern section, where rich moisture-retentive lava soils, and warm temperatures combine to make it the leading production area. The Middle Ganga basin also possesses characteristics suitable to cotton growing—warm temperatures, alluvial soils, irrigation facilities, and plentiful labor supply and is another important region of production. Cotton is an important cash crop for India and Pakistan.
Cotton is China’s major fiber crop its production is more than a quarter of world’s total. The country holds the first position among world producers; before World War II it held the third place, after the U.S.A. and the USSR. The principal area of production lies in the lower basins of the Huanghe and the Chang Jiang, and the area between the two basins. Most of the cotton is produced in the drier parts north of the Qinlin Mountains.
Turkey, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan are the other cotton producers in Asia. Turkey produces nearly 3.0 percent of the world, the main areas in the valleys along
the southern and western coasts. Production in Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Kazakstan, Tajikistan in Central Asia is based on the irrigation system introduced by the USSR in the 1930s and 1940s on the Syr and Amu rivers.