Cotton cultivation taking centrestage in North

Rutam Vora

Vishwanath Kulkarni

Cotton cultivation is taking the centrestage in North India. On the back of last year’s higher prices and purchases by the Cotton Corporation of India (CCI), farmers in Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan are seen moving away from paddy and guar seed to the fibre crop this year.

Farmers in Haryana, Punjab and Rajasthan have taken to cotton cultivation primarily on two grounds – higher income over relatively less remunerative crops such as paddy and guar seed, and the labour shortage for paddy transplantation.

Labour shortage

For paddy growers, labour shortage is a major problem in the sowing season. Farmer leader Ajay Vir Jakhar says farmers are following their experience with cotton last year.

“Last year, cotton prices were good, yields were good, so they bet big on cotton this year too. Cotton does not require migrant labour even during harvest,” Jakhar told Businessline .

Migrant labourers are needed mainly for transplantation of paddy, while cotton picking is usually done by labourers from Rajasthan.

Paddy growers, on the other hand, are seeking to advance the transplantation date by about 10 days, which is believed to ease the pressure on farmers. This would mean extending the transplantation time by about 25 per cent. So, the pressure on requirement of labour for paddy would reduce substantially.

Indicating a rise in cotton acreage across the region, Sushil Phutela, Vice-President of Indian Cotton Association Ltd informed that global factors such as China running out of cotton stocks, US and Australia likely to witness lower crop, may support cotton prices going forward. “We are seeing positive outlook for cotton despite the short term impact following this trade disruptions due to coronavirus. Demand is going to be there and we believe even at MSP rates, cotton is still a better bet for farmers over paddy,” said Phutela adding that initial indication point at about 10-15 per cent of the paddy area may switch towards cotton in the regions of Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan.

Cotton was planted in 4 lakh hectares in Punjab, 7 lakh ha in Haryana and 6.44 lakh ha in Rajasthan during the 2019-20 season. Total North Indian acreage stood at 17.45 lakh ha while the all India cotton area was 127.67 lakh ha during 2019-20.

The rise in cotton acreage is also reflected in the cotton seed sales. “The demand for cotton seeds has been good so far. About 60-65 per cent of the seed sale has taken place and we expect it to may go up to May 15,” said M Ramasami, Chairman of Rasi Seeds Pvt Ltd, the largest vendor of Bt cotton seeds in the country.

Based on the trends, the cotton acreage could go up by about a tenth in North India, mainly in Punjab and Haryana, Ramasamy added. The Attur, Salem-based Rasi Seeds dominates the North Indian cottonseed market with a share of over 50 per cent. The North Indian cottonseed market is estimated at 90 lakh packets a year, while the total Indian market is about 4.5 crore packets. To overcome the challenges posed by the countrywide lockdown, the company used four railway rakes and twenty trucks to transport the cottonseeds from Salem to North India this year.

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