Genesis of ICAR-CICR

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Cotton is the major cash crop of India and contributes 60% of the fibre used in the domestic textile industry. Cotton supports the livelihood of nearly 6 million farmers and another 40-50 million people engaged in cotton processing and trade. India leads globally in cotton area with about 13 million hectares. India is also the second largest consumer of cotton in the world. 

After independence, the erstwhile Indian Central Cotton Committee, used to sponsor cotton research schemes on an Ad hoc basis until it was taken over by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) in 1966.  However, the research efforts under All India Coordinated Cotton Improvement Project (AICCIP) were initiated by the ICAR in the year 1967.  With a view to develop a Centre of Excellence for carrying out research on fundamental problems limiting cotton production and also to provide basic support to location-specific applied research being carried out through the AICCIP system, the ICAR established the ICAR-Central Institute for Cotton Research at Nagpur in April, 1976. The erstwhile Regional Station of IARI at Coimbatore (Tamil Nadu) became a part of ICAR-CICR simultaneously to cater to the needs of southern cotton zone.  In the year 1985, the IARI Regional Station at Sirsa (Haryana) was also transferred to ICAR-CICR as a Regional Station for the northern irrigated cotton zone.

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