KALA COTTON
About Kala Cotton
Kala Cotton is an indigenous species that has been cultivated in the Eastern region of Kutch district in Gujarat. Locally it was called Wagad or Sakala and was deeply rooted in their lives. After 1970s, it had been regarded as endangered with the market transition to invasive and hybrid species with longer staples which can expect higher yields. However, the characteristics of Kala Cotton is suitable for the local climate even in semi-arid regions, it grows with roots deep underground. It is resistant to soils with high salt concentrations, a rain-fed crop which does not require irrigation. It is resistant to pests and diseases and does not require pesticides or chemical fertilizers. In 2007 a revival project was started in collaboration with multiple NGOs and organizations such as Khamir and Satvik.
In 2010-2011, it was relaunched as a material product with the name "Kala Cotton". The name Kala comes from the thick black shell of cotton that protects the inner fibers from pests, strong winds and dryness.
Cultivation area of Kala Cotton
Among the 10 blocks in Kutch district, Kala Cotton had been cultivated in Abdasa, Mandvi, Mundra and Anjar, which locate along the Southwest coast; also Rapar and Bhachau, which are close to the Great Rannof Kutch (Rann means salt marsh in their local language,It is one of the world's largest salt desert areas) in the Northern and Eastern parts of Kutch. Today it is only cultivated in Rapar and limited villages in Bhachau.
History of Kala Cotton and Today
Cotton cultivated as a native species in the Indian subcontinent is botanically divided into two species: Gossypium Arboreum and Gossypium Herbaceum, both known as short staple species. In contrast to Gossypium Hirsutum, a medium staple species most common globally today, those are called “Old World Cotton”, and in India it is called “Desi Cotton” (Desi means local, native). Kala Cotton belongs to the Helbaceum family which is one of the two varieties of Desi Cotton.
In the late 18th century after the industrial revolution, short staple cotton, which was not suitable for machine spinning, was considered as coarse and of inferior quality. It was evaluated as low grade in the cotton industry internationally, with limited uses such as sackcloth and futon cotton. In fact, every range of cotton fabrics in India, from transparent thin muslin to the simplest khadi cloth which was known as a symbol of the independence movement, had been made with short stapled indigenous cotton.
Therefore, in the British India, they tried to introduce foreign species for better quality though, the cultivation of indigenous species had continued steadily. In 1947, still 97% of the cotton cultivated in India was indigenous species (65% Areboreum and 32% Helbaceum).
However, after the independence, the Indian government positioned cotton as one of major products on the nation and made agricultural reforms aiming expansion of production and quality improvement (in other words, development of long staple varieties). Since the 1970s, with the emergence of Hirsutum hybrid species, many production areas shifted to growing Hirsutum. By 2000, Hirsutum accounted for 69%, while Areboreum had dropped to 17% and Herbaceum to 11%. Furthermore, when the cultivation of Hirsutum-based genetically modified cotton (contains a gene that exterminates specific pests), commonly known as Bt Cotton, had been approved in 2002-2003, it spread across the cotton fields by 2014. Bt Cotton now accounts for approximately 93% of the cultivated area. While Bt Cotton is expected to significantly increase yields, it also became notorious by putting heavy burdens on farmers, which were the high risk of income loss during crop failures as well as annual purchase of expensive seeds, pesticides, and fertilizers. This caused a major social problem, with a rapid increase in the number of farmers committing suicide due to debt hardship.
In Kutch, however, the situation was a little different. Of course, the transition to Bt Cotton has progressed in many areas, however in some areas of East Kutch, where water is constantly scarce and irrigation facilities are not possible to be maintained, Herbacaeum Wagad Cotton has kept preserved.
However, even in Kutch, Wagad cotton has reduced demands with the advent of higher quality cotton, and its market price declined. With no prospects for profits, there was increasing number of farmers who switched to hybrids, or other more profitable crops other than cotton, leading to a shrinkage of production of Wagad Cotton. Along with these changes, the circular chain of process in the local communities, from the farmers, to the cotton ginning (separating cotton into fibers and seeds), cotton beating (removing trash and loosening the cotton), spinning, weaving, dyeing, and finally to the market disappeared. In this situation, Satvik, a producers' organization which promote organic farming in Kutch, has focused on Wagad Cotton,which has been traditionally cultivated in an organic manner and has less risks to the farmers as well as environment.. In 2007, the Kala Cotton Initiative was launched as a collaborative project between Satvik and NGO Khamir, that supports livelihoods through traditional handicrafts. This led to branding of Kala cotton in 2010-11, followed Organic Certification in 2011-12.
Through the process of branding Kala Cotton, Khamir aimed to revitalize the local network of handicraft that Wagad Cotton once connected, also to create a system to sustain the livelihood of the people who were involved. This means developing simple hand-woven fabrics with natural dyeing through the hands of craftsmen at each stage of production, such as spinning, weaving, and dyeing. Promoting Kala Cotton is meant to restore all these process chains.
Kutch experienced rapid industrialization after the earthquake in 2001, and the technology for spinning and weaving short staple cotton became past traditions. Furthermore, there were many challenges in the cotton ginning process, such as that it cannot be processed using existing cotton ginning machinery for long staple cotton, also it requires machinery which is dedicated to the Kala Cotton to avoid mixing with other variety of cotton. Taking many years to solve these problems one by one, Kala Cotton has materialized. Due to the rarity of materials, low environmental impact, sustainable production manufacturing rooted in local tradition, and above all the appeal of its unique texture, it has attracted people's attention not only in India but also overseas.
In 2019, an exhibition called "Sakala to Kala" was held at Khamir to celebrate the revival of Kala cotton based on the achievements made up to that point. A conference meeting was held amongst the farmers and researchers of indigenous cotton from all over the country gathered to promote Desi Cotton.
Craftspersons engage in the process of Kala Cotton
Spinners
Currently, the main contributors of hand-spinning are women from the Sodha Rajput community, who fled to Kutch from Pakistan's Sindh region during the Third Indo-Pakistan War (1971).They had been renowned for their handicraft skills, and when they settled in Kutch, they were provided Peti Charkas (portable box-type Single Charkas) by the Khadi and Village Industries Commission promotion organization of the time, and learned the spinning skills. In the past, although they have mastered the craft, they were unable to establish it as a profession. Khamir introduced Petir Charka in the Sodha Rajput village on a trial basis, and many women who knew how to do it showed their interests and started competing their skills. It was especially well received by elderly women who has difficulties to do embroidery work, as a suitable alternative job. As words of mouth spread across Sodha Rajput villages, the project also has been expanded.
Initially, Khamir promoted hand-spinning by Ambar Charka (an efficient charkha that can manually rotate multiple spindles), but had been skeptical about Peti Charka due to its efficiency. However, when they introduced the Peti Charka, they found, many women liked the work despite the fact that the production efficiency was low then the hourly wage was also relatively low. Also they found that the market responded well to the products made from those yarns. Later Khamir has remodeled the remuneration system that is enough comparable to that of yarn spinning by Ambar Charka, and Peti Charka spinning became part of their important value chain.
Weavers
The Vankars from Meghwal community, which had migrated to Kutch from Rajasthan about 600 years ago, have traditionally carried out weaving work in Kutch. The Rabari community of pastoralists are credited for bringing the art of weaving to Kutch using hand-spun yarn. There are two stories that have been passed down locally regarding the migration of the weaver community.
First one is when the daughter of a wealthy Rabari family in Rajasthan was to marry into Kutch, she was accompanied by a weaver to produce all the clothes the bride needed as part of her dowry. The family of weavers expanded and spread to many villages of Kutch, forming a community of weavers.
Second one is that when a sage from Meghwal in Rajasthan visited Kutch on a pilgrimage, some goldsmiths built a temple in his honor and asked their relatives to come to help maintain it. This led to the weavers of the Meghwal community moving to Kutch, which led to the custom of inviting weaver families from the Meghwal community whenever a new village was established, and weaver communities were scattered across Kutch.
The Vankars used the wool of sheep, goats, and camels kept by pastoralists such as the Rabari, who had been both suppliers and customers of yarn, as well as Wagad Cotton from the Ahir farmers who had cultivated the fields. They dye and weave their own yarns to provide each community with clothing and fabrics that symbolize their identity. However, with the influx of industrial products and changes in the clothing culture of pastoralists, they lost customers, and more and more people left weaving jobs or shifted to weaving with machine-spun merino wool or synthetic fibers. This led to a decline of works using traditional materials. However, with the revival of Kala Cotton, the Vankars, is now playing a significant role in promotion of Kala Cotton, not only by procuring it but involving in all the business areas such as design, production, distribution as well as sales.
Process
1. From seeds to cotton balls
Kala Cotton is sown around mid-August. Fields are plowed just before rain and holes are dug at intervals to maximize rainwater infiltration. Before sowing, the soil is plowed several times to allow water to penetrate into the soil before sowing. It is said that if it rains several times after sowing, a good harvest can be expected. If there is no rain, the yield will be reduced, but with the moisture that permeates into the soil and the characteristics of dry cotton, there still can be harvest. As fertilizer, cow dung is commonly used which are obtainable domestically at farmers own houses.The first cotton plants begin to burst in November and are harvested two or three times until the seedlings are removed in April of the following year. Farmers also divide their fields into two, growing cotton on one side and mung beans and castor beans (the raw material for castor oil) on the other. By rotating crops in the following year, they try to increase the vitality of the soil also can expect higher yields.
2. From cotton balls to sliver
Local women's group segregate the lint, the fiber part, from the shell of cotton ball, and those are transported to a cotton gin where seeds and other plant components mixed with the fiber are removed. In the beginning of project, there was a problem that impurities remaining a lot, which resulted in a prickly texture when it is made into cloth, but now it has been resolved. Those removed leaves and husks are used as feed for cattle, the seeds are pressed into cottonseed oils, and the stalks are used as fuels. The fibers of the lint are oriented using a roving machine and formed into a sliver.
3. From sliver to yarn
Initially, involving village women through either Khamir or Vankars, they targeted to produce hand-spun yarn using Peti Charka and Ambar Charka. However as the project got on the right track and the supply can not keep up with the demand, gradually small-scale spinning mills which could handle Kala Cotton also started taking their spinning works. . Nowadays, threads with various thickness are available by attaining both hand spinning and machine spinning. In the case of handspinning, the yarn spun with Peti Charka has a thicker count and is lightly twisted, and the yarn spun with Ambar Charka has a medium count and has a slightly stronger twist.
4. From thread to cloth
The Vankars weave cloths,having supports from their family members or their business partners in preparing warp and weft yarns as well as looms. For weaving Kala Cotton yarn, it required to revive past techniques, such as loom setting which differed from the one for ordinal mill spun yarn as well as the addition of glue to strengthen the warp threads. There veterans with knowledge overcome the challenges by passing it on to the younger generation of weavers. With yarns spun with Peti Charka, they weave rough textured cloth, while with Ambar Charka one, they make uniquelly clashed cloth.
References
Kutch's Wagad or Kala cotton: Back from the (almost) dead/Azera Parveen Rahman
Reviving a Heritage in Peril : India's Endangered Tradirions of Cotton and Wool/Sushma Iyengar
Status Paper of Indian Cotton/Directorate of Cotton Development Government of India
Sandhani, Weaving Transformations in Kachchh/Kalpavriksh and Khamir, with the Vankars of Kachchh
Contributor
Field Research Support: Abdulaziz Khatri (Khamir) and all the Khamir team, Satvik, Juhi Panday, Vankar Shamji Vishram, Siju Navneet Ramji
Documentation Research Support: Kou Uchimura, Yoshiko Kasai, Gwen Chan Si Min
Translation Support: Gwen Chan Si Min
Editting Suport: Yoshiko Kasai
Research, Planing & Editting: Fumie Kobayashi