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Telangana’s plan to touch the 28.32-lakh hectare (lh) mark in cotton has fallen flat, with farmers growing the fibre crop only on 20.23 lh, as on date.
As the season is coming to an end, it is highly unlikely that there will be any improvement in acreage.
Farmers refused to heed the State government’s appeal to reduce the excessive dependence on paddy and move to cotton. With the season coming to an end and incessant rains dashing the hopes for additional acreage, the State government estimates that cotton acreage will stand, more or less, at 20.23 lh, falling behind the target by a whopping 8 lakh hectares.
After crossing the 24.28-lh mark and emerging as the second biggest cotton-growing State in the country last season, Telangana had set its eyes on the 28.32-lh mark this kharif.
As it raised the benchmark, the State government had asked the farmers to shift away from paddy, the demand for which is waning with the neighbouring States of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Kerala increasing the paddy production significantly and reducing their dependence on the paddy from Telangana.
The farmers, however, seem to be not excited. “They have not received good returns last time. Several farmers had ended up producing only 3-4 quintals against 8-12 quintals in a good year. Poor returns had forced them to look at other crops,” S Malla Reddy, Vice-President of All-India Kisan Sabha, told BusinessLine.
“Additional irrigation facilities had ensured water supply, making more farmers to shift to cotton in the last two years. Though the current level of 20.23 lh is still higher than the State’s season normal of 19.26 lh, it is far less than what the Government has aspired for,” an Agriculture Department officer said.
Maize gains
There is a slight decline in paddy area, too. The farmers sowed the staple food crop on 18.87 lh (19.42 lh).
However, maize, which witnessed a huge drop in acreage in the last two years, has regained some lost ground. As against last year’s 86,198 hectares, farmers grew maize on 2.42 lakh hectares. It, however, is still less than the State’s average maize area of 4.04 lakh hectares.
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