After topping Gujarat to become the second-largest State in cotton acreage, Telangana now wants to consolidate its position by adding another 15-20 lakh acres in the upcoming kharif season, taking the area under the fibre crop to 75-80 lakh acres.

While asking the farmers to increase the acreage, Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao has asked the officials of the Agriculture Department to make arrangements to mobilise the seeds required for the kharif.

Farmers generally use two packets (of 450 gm each) in an acre, pegging the total requirement at 1.50-1.60 crore packets.

The State, which had experimented with the Regulated Cropping System last year, had dramatically increased the cotton area to 60 lakh acres from the previous record of 46 lakh acres in 2019. As they achieved the target of 60 lakh acres, the Telangana farmers had surpassed Gujarat, the second largest cotton player, which grows cotton on about 56 lakh acres.

In 2019, Gujarat cultivated cotton on 66 lakh acres, while their peers in Telangana grew the crop on 46 lakh acres. Maharashtra, with 1.04 crore acres, tops the list in cotton acreage.

Cut likely in paddy area

Meanwhile, the State wants its farmers to grow redgram (pigeon pea) on 20-25 lakh acres, more than double the area from last kharif.

The additional stress on cotton and redgram indicates that the State wants its farmers to reduce their excessive dependence on paddy. During the last kharif, farmers grew paddy on 53 lakh acres out of the total cropped area of 1.36 crore acres.

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