Facts about Cotton Clothes Sales in the World
Posted by Douglas Gray on 11th Aug 2014
Facts about cotton clothes sales in the world are beneficial for the public to know. In the modern world of today, cotton is used in nearly half of all cloth material that is manufactured worldwide. Each year there are 20 million tons of cotton grown in over 90 countries. The largest producer is China with India and America second and third. When you also count the production of cotton in Pakistan, Uzbekistan, Brazil and the western African nations, they account for 75% of the total production of this natural fiber for the world. The land space used to grow this crop is only 2.5% of the arable land on the planet.
Of all the major growers of Cotton, only America uses machinery to harvest the crop. Most other western nations also harvest by mechanical means but their production is less than ¼ that of America or less. The rest of the world, especially in developing nations, the cotton is still harvested by hand just as it was in the 19th century in the rural southern portion of America. It is native to tropical and sub tropical regions around the globe and can be grown in these areas for both local production of textiles and for export.
The reason cotton can be grown in so many places is because the nature of the plant itself. All a cotton plant requires to grow is a reasonable frost free period of time, a good amount of sunshine and moderate rainfall or irrigation. For an improved harvest many farmers also used pesticides and herbicides to increase their yield, but even without them, the cotton plant will thrive.
Today 75% of all cotton is natural while 25% of it is genetically modified version of the plant. The modification to the plant’s genes is the introduction of genes that act as herbicides and pesticides. These changes allow for the cotton plant to thrive when exterior pesticides and herbicides are not used or are limited in their application on the fields.
There has been some bad news and press about GM plants but that is for plants humans consume. To date there is only good news about the GM cotton plants. With a reduction in the use of herbicides and pesticides, the water runoff from the fields is less contaminated along with the cost of growing cotton is reduced. This way the environment is cleaner and the textiles made from the cotton are less expensive for the public to purchase.
The cotton plant has benefited man for as long as man has walked the earth and decided to stop wearing animal skins in favor of a more comfortable covering. Today with more than half the world’s population wearing cotton fabrics and items, it is the preferred choice for those that want to be comfortable while in public or in the privacy of their own home.