Technical Assistance Programme(TAP)

News:Union Minister of Textiles has announced that India will cover five more African countries in the second phase of its cotton technical assistance programme(TAP) for the region.

Facts:

About TAP Programme:

• TAP is a technical assistance programme for Cotton sector by the Department of Commerce of India.
• The first phase of programme from 2012 to 2018 had focussed on 6 African countries namely Benin, Burkina Faso, Chad, Malawi, Nigeria and Uganda.
• The programme aims at improving the competitiveness of the cotton and cotton-based textiles and apparel industry in these countries through a series of interventions which had significant outcomes leading to a demand for a follow-on project.
• In the five year long second phase,the programme will be scaled up in size and coverage and will be introduced in five additional countries, namely Mali, Ghana, Togo, Zambia and Tanzania.

Technical Assistance Programme(TAP) covers the following broad areas:-

• Increasing cotton production (area expansion and productivity enhancement)
• Improving Extension & Support Service Efficiency
• Enhancing R&D/ Quality Control
• Marketing/Distribution Infrastructure
• Strengthening/development of cotton residue based value addition industry
• Creating/Strengthening Downstream Industry in Textiles and Clothing.