The Hindu Business Line : No mealy bug woes this time; Kapas yields higher in North

A Happy Spin
Farmers reported kapas yields between 35 and 40 man/acre, as against last year’s 30-35 range.
Govt’s help sought on marketing infrastructure and mechanisation of picking.

A. Roy Chowdhury

Global hit: A farmer at the Mansa mandi (agriculture market) about 60 km away fromBathinda in Punjab. Cotton prices have crashed internationally following the financialcrisis.

Harish Damodaran

Mansa (Punjab), Oct 26 While cotton farmers in the North have reasons to be sore over harvest prices, there are no such regrets when it comes to production or yields.

Last year’s widespread attacks of mealy bug – an insect pest that sucks out sap from every part of the plant, rendering it dry – had discouraged many growers from sowing cotton this time notwithstanding remunerative price prospects.

Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan have seen a combined three lakh hectare or 20 per cent lower cotton area this year.

But despite this, overall lint output has dropped marginally from 47 to 43 lakh bales (of 170 kg each), with average yield per hectare rising from 536 to 612 kg.

Many farmers in Mansa and Bhathinda districts that Business Line spoke to reported kapas (seed-cotton) yields between 35 and 40 man an acre, as against last year’s 30-35 range (one man equals 40 kg; 35 man works out to 14 quintals an acre). Moreover, there has been no major incidence of mealy bug.

“The problem is mainly from the insect eggs that remain in the weeds both on the fields and along the canals. This time, due to awareness campaigns by the Government, farmers have resorted to de-weeding and selective spraying of propanophos and acephate insecticides. Moreover, the intermittent rains have helped wash out the pest,” said Mr Arunava Chakraborty, Regional Sales Manager, Monsanto-Mahyco Biotech India.

What are the returns from growing cotton?

According to Mr Gurtej Singh, a 31-acre farmer from Gagrana village here, in the case of Bt cotton, two 450 gram seed packets costing Rs 750 each are required for every acre planted.

The cost of land preparation, ploughing and sowing (inclusive of diesel and labour) comes to around Rs 1,000 an acre.

The cost of fertilisers – one 50 kg bag of di-ammonium phosphate at Rs 460, two bags of urea at Rs 242 and two sprays of liquid 19:19:19 NPK micronutrients at Rs 90 each – adds up to Rs 1,124 an acre.

Then comes pesticides: Two sprays for Rs 100 each of imidachlorprid (against sucking pests like aphids, jassids and whitefly), one spray for Rs 450 of Rimon (novaluron) against spodoptera insect and another Rs 100 on propanophos/acephate to control mealy bug – totalling Rs 750 an acre.

LABOUR-INTENSIVE

The biggest expenditure head, however, is picking.

“It is a labour-intensive operation, with four people (usually women and children) taking three days to cover an acre. I have to pay Rs 300 for every quintal of kapas picked. So, if my yield is 14 quintals an acre, it will cost Rs 4,200,” Mr Singh noted.

The total cultivation cost on cotton, thus, works out to roughly Rs 8,600 an acre. Taking a harvest price of Rs 2,600 a quintal on a yield of 14 quintals, the net return would be upwards of Rs 27,000 an acre.

PRICE REALISATIONS

A lot though depends on price realisations. Unlike paddy, there is no assured price for cotton, making it a riskier crop.

“The one risk that Bt cotton has practically eliminated is sundi (American bollworm), which used to destroy our entire crop. I had to earlier spray monocrotophos and other insecticides 15 to 20 times, each round costing Rs 350-400 an acre. That menace thankfully is over,” Mr Singh noted.