Cotton Association of India (CAI), the apex trade body for the sector, expects area under the fibre crop to increase by 20-25 per cent in the upcoming planting season across all ten producing states, due to the high prevailing prices.

“According to some of the cotton manufacturers, the orders and demand for cotton seed from dealers across the country has increased by 50-60% and this demand will continue increasing in coming months. By looking to this higher demand for cotton seed and the higher rates for cotton, it looks like the sowing area will increase by 20-25 per cent in all 10 cotton growing states,” Atul Ganatra, President, CAI told the Agriculture Ministry recently.

“As on today kapas (raw cotton) rates in India is ₹9000- to ₹10,000 per quintal and cotton farmers are very happy for getting this higher rate. This higher rate for kapas will attract farmers from other crop like soyabean, groundnut & chillies towards cotton in a very big way,” CAI said.

In Maharashtra, CAI expects farmers to shift to cotton in a big way from soyabean. The soyabean prices are around ₹6,000 per quintal and raw cotton is hovering around ₹10,000 per quintal. Similarly in Gujarat, the groundnut prices are around ₹5,500 per quintal while cotton is about ₹10,000. In Gujarat, farmers will shift from groundnut to cotton, while in South India the shift will be from chilli.

Increase in MSP sought

Further, CAI has suggested a moderate increase of 3-5 per cent in the minimum support price (MSP) of the fibre crop to protect the growers interest. However, for the extra long staple (ELS) cotton, which is currently being imported, CAI has suggested a higher MSP increase of 25-30 per cent for the next cropping season to attract the growers interest.

CAI has also made a pitch for removal of price controls on sale of cottonseed. “If price control is removed the seed company can increase the seed rate and give new technology seed to farmers, which will help to increase our cotton yield which is at present lowest in the world at about 475 kg against world average of 800 kg,” Ganatra said.

Cotton output

Cotton production over the past five years has been stagnant at around 350 lakh bales of 170 kg each, but at the same time consumption has gone up from 310 lakh bales to 345 lakh bales. “If we fail to increase our cotton production in coming years, we have to import lots of cotton,” Ganatra said. He further suggested that India should look at following Brazil, which is getting yield of 1800 kg with new seed technology. (ends)

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