Water shortage, unfavourable weather and persistent menace of pink bollworm could dent cotton sowing this kharif season by about 8-10 per cent as against last year.

Atul Ganatra,President, Cotton Association of India (CAI), stated that cotton acreage this year may hover around 110 lakh hectares (lh) as against 121 lh last year.

In Punjab, cotton area may drop by about 8-10 per cent primarily on water shortage and unfavourable weather, as farmers may shift to other crop.

Maharashtra, Telangana

The drop in cotton acreage will be sharp in Maharashtra and Telangana, where farmers, hit by pink bollworm pest infestation, are shifting to soyabean.

“There will be about 10-15 per cent decline in acreage in Maharashtra, which has a one-third of India’s overall cotton area. Telangana also will witness a similar decline as farmers turn to alternate relatively cost-effective crop of soyabean. We may see some experiment in Telangana for the seed crop,” said Ganatra adding that soyabean fetched better prices than cotton.

Also, labour cost has reached to about ₹1,000 a quintal for bollworm-infested cotton fields. This, coupled with uncertain price movement, is the reason for about farmers turning away from cotton.

Ganatra said cotton sowing in Rajasthan will remain almost stable, but Haryana may see some inter-change between cotton and paddy, but the overall cotton acreage will be stable.

Gujarat banks on cotton

However, in Gujarat, the country’s largest cotton producer, the fibre crop continues to be a reliable one. Ganatra anticipates cotton sowing in Gujarat to remain stable or to go up by about 2-3 per cent as farmers are seen switching from groundnut to the fibre crop.

“Inspite of pink bollworms infestation and uncertain price conditions, cotton continues to be a better bet as compared to other kharif crops such as groundnut or short-duration crops of pulses. Also, animals don’t spoil this crop, whereas that threat looms large on other leafy crops,” said Babubhai Patidar, Chairman of APMC in Savarkundla in Amreli district of Saurashtra.

Farmers in other parts of Saurashtra such as Jamnagar and Rajkot have preferred to take up groundnut even if the prices remained subdued last year. The region witnessed a bumper groundnut harvest leading to a price crash, which necessitated the procurement of the oilseed at the minimum support price.

“There is uncertainty about farmers’ choice for kharif crop at present. Groundnut is definitely not a good bet, but cotton is not so bad either. We see a lot of farmers showing preference for cotton crop. They may have some other short-duration crops also on their land,” said Ukabhai Patoliya, a farmer from Junagadh.

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