**2. Current situation**

Cotton is grown in around 105 countries and total cotton production during 2018–2019 was 71.02 million tons (**Figure 2**). India, China, United States of America, Brazil, Pakistan, Turkey, Uzbekistan, Australia, Greece and Benin are the top ten producers. India is the highest producer followed by China and United States. Australia has the highest productivity of 49.05 q/ha seed cotton followed by China (45.32 q/ha) and Brazil (39.76 q/ha) (**Figure 3**). In the last fifty years, the area is more or less the same with the productivity however showing an upward trend (**Figure 2**). The percent productivity improvement graph (**Figure 4**) shows us that there were two

**Figure 2.** *World area and production statistics.*

negative growth trends in the world during 1975 and 1995 but they were addressed with technological improvements. Currently, we are again witnessing a negative trend of cotton productivity growth around the world. India and USA together contribute 51% area of cotton cultivation, however the productivity (India: 13.9 t/ha & USA: 26.9 t/ha) (**Figure 5**) is low compared to other countries like Australia

**Figure 3.** *World cotton productivity dynamics (q/ha).*

**Figure 4.**

*Percent cotton productivity growth.*

**Figure 5.** *World cotton growing area 2018–19 (%).*

(49.05 q/ha seed cotton) and China (45.32 q/ha) [6], Improving cotton productivity in USA and India would change the outlook of cotton production sustainability. The world's two largest democracies, India & USA, have a mutual interest in promoting global security, stability and economic prosperity with cooperation at various levels. The co-operation can be extended to cotton research with other counties like Australia to make cotton productivity sustainable.
