Poor cotton sowing in Maharashtra and Telangana — two of the major cotton producing States in the country — is largely responsible for the sharp drop in cotton acreage this kharif season, but the government and some experts say that with better rains there is still time for some of the deficit to be bridged.
While part of the decline in acreage could be attributed to farmers looking for more lucrative options such as rice, pulses, maize or sugarcane this year, the larger factor for the fall could be the delayed monsoon in the region and its slow progress.
“The rains have not progressed in the manner they normally do, especially in regions in Vidarbha and Marathwada where a lot of acreage normally happens. But there is still a window till about July 15. Depending on how monsoon progresses, acreage may increase,” said VN Saroja from Agriwatch.
In this year’s kharif season (June onwards), cotton sowing has witnessed a major deceleration with total acreage till July 7 at 67.88 lakh hectares compared to 87.83 lakh hectares (lh).
Maharashtra and Telangana alone accounted for a deficit of 15.5 lh of the total deficit of 20 lh.
While there is a fall in cotton sowing to 2.5 lh in Punjab, where the crop was destroyed by whiteflies last year, the deficit is relatively low at 2 lh.
A distinct shift In Haryana, another State hit by the pests last year, cotton sowing at 4.98 lh is only slightly lower than that in the same period last year.
However, there is a distinct shift from Bt cotton, the genetically modified variety that attracted white flies, to non-Bt cotton.
In fact, in the entire country, acreage under non-Bt cotton has more than doubled to 11.41 lh till July 7, 2016 from 5.45 lh in the same period last year, while acreage under Bt has declined.
In Gujarat, the second largest grower of the fibre after Maharashtra, sowing till July 7 was at 20.91 lh — the same level as the corresponding period last year.
In Telangana, the fall in acreage to 8.33 lh till the first week of July from 12.83 lh in the same period last year, could partly be due to the State government encouraging cotton farmers, battered by drought in the last two years, to shift to other crops.
“Some farmers in the region earlier growing cotton are showing preference for soyabean, maize and redgram,” an official in the Agriculture Ministry said.
However, with monsoon playing catch-up in July in most of the country (Telangana received 22 per cent surplus rains), the government is hopeful of better acreage.
Agriculture Secretary SK Pattanayak said at an event last week that good rains in several States was boosting sowing operations and planting of most kharif crops, including cotton, was likely to improve in the coming weeks.