Main Activities of the Green Cotton Project

Main activities of the Green Cotton Project are:

1. Stakeholder networking and coordination between project activities
2. Capacity building within the participatory breeding and seed propagation
3. Conservation and generation of the local Desi-cotton’s genetic diversity for the adaptation to abiotic and biotic stress factors
4. Selection of locally adapted and progressive breeding materials under On-Station and On-farm conditions.

The decentralized and participatory approach within the project ensures that new varieties are adapted to their local cultivation conditions. At the same time, the breeding goals reflect the interests of smallholder farmers, as well as the textile industry. Smallholder farmers are enabled to identify, breed and propagate the best suitable varieties on their own. The decentralized participatory breeding represents a model for developing improved varieties, increasing the genetic diversity on the cultivation site and thus increasing adaptive capacity for climate change within a low investment framework. Even, when this approach is based on a high cooperation and training need, the transfer of new findings during the project phases into practise represents a main advantage that leads to a sustainable and autonomous solution for problems.