The Hindu Business Line : Why Salem cotton farmers gave up `Suvin' cultivation

THE one common factor among Mr E.R. Sakthivel, Mr M. Govindaraj, and Mr D. Durai Ganapathy, all farmers from Athur in Salem district, is that they were all once upon a time loyal growers of the `Suvin' cotton, the famed extra long staple (ELS) cotton variety for which Athur is well known. The "Suvin" variety has been considered as an equivalent to the finest Egyptian cotton.

And today all of them have given up cultivating this prized cotton variety to take up the other less known long/medium staple cotton varieties.

The reason is the decline in yield suffered during successive years by this ELS cotton variety, which is capable of spinning finer yarn in the count ranging from 120s up to 200s. Its fibre strength at 40 mm is considered far superior to any of the existing varieties.

From what had been the original growing tract of some 12,000 acres plus in Athur and surrounding regions, the Suvin cotton tract has now shrunk to less than 1,500 acres.

"The per acre yield of Suvin, which was 10-12 quintal during the crop's heydays during 1980-90, gradually started declining and today the farmers cultivating this variety record hardly 2-3 quintals. The economic loss suffered by farmers by raising this particular variety became too staggering for anyone in the region to continue cultivating the variety," said Mr Durai Ganapathy, from Gengavally.

At the height of the yield decline seen in the variety, Suvin farmers were confronted with the phenomenon of formation of very few bolls in the plants and non-busting of the bolls till the end, which often made the farmers force-open the petals of the bolls to release the cotton fibre.

"There was no on-farm guidance available then to tackle this problem, essentially related to the quality of the seeds. To counter the poor quality of seeds, farmers raising the Suvin took to excess spraying of pesticides to address the sucking pests (white fly afflictions), which again had widened the cost-benefit ratio in cultivating this particular cotton variety," said Mr Govindaraj, who maintained that against the price realisation of Rs 1,000 a quintal, the high production cost involved in Suvin cultivation (about Rs 5,000 an acre) had practically deprived the farmers' enthusiasm.

The original `Suvin' cultivators, numbering about 15, who were here under a conducted tour to the ELS demonstration cotton farm at the South India Cotton Association (SICA) premises in the city, were given exposure on latest cultivation methods including the soil management, seed selection, and farm practices including the integrated pest management, with a focus on ELS cotton.

They were also given exposure on the 165-day duration ELS cotton hybrid `Sara-2', promoted by the Coimbatore-based Super Spinning Mills Ltd which was raised in the SICA's model farm.

Besides the fibre parameters needed out of the ELS cotton varieties, the farmers were also guided on the clean cotton (free from farm-related contaminations) production practices at the front-line demonstration held at SICA.

What will make the Athur cotton growers return to `Suvin' cultivation once again?

"We need to reinvigorate the quality of `Suvin' seeds and perhaps, a genetically modified Suvin would be an answer to win back the farmers confidence in this ELS cotton crop," said Mr Palanivel, the farmer from Pethanaickenpalayam near Athur.

This would bring down the cost of input in Suvin cotton cultivation greatly. To buttress the farmers' enthusiasm in this crop, it is also essential that the State Government creates a system of ensuring minimum remunerative price for `Suvin' growers, since fixed price assurance will go a long way in promoting `Suvin' acreage in the State.