New Delhi (Commodities Control) – Cotton acreage reached to 13.2 lakh hectares in the current sowing season, which is over 25 percent down from the target set by the governments Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan, three cotton growing states in north India.
Punjab has completed cotton sowing in three lakh hectares, nearly the target set for the season in the state but other two states couldn’t achieve the sowing coverage target due to irrigation issues as water supply delayed in Haryana and Rajasthan this year.
Area under cotton crop in Punjab is three lakh hectares as on May 31 again target of 325 lakh hectare for the season 2021-22 set by the government is also the same, said a senior official.
However, Haryana and Punjab couldn’t achieve the target. Cotton acreage in Haryana is at 6.7 lakh hectares while it is only 4.02 lakh hectares in Rajasthan against the target of 7.62 lakh hectares and 8.80 lakh hectares respectively.
Area under cotton crop has reached to 13.72 lakh hectares against the target of 18.42 lakh hectares in all three cotton growing sates of north India. Hence, 74. 48 percent of the target area set for the season has been achieved.
Agricultural scientist and Head of Central Institute for Cotton Research, Sirsa S K Verma said cotton sowing ideally completes in north India before onset of monsoon. He said that area under cotton was expected to increase this year as farmers got good prices of the commodity this year and they were very much interested to cultivate cotton in more areas but they couldn’t do it due to issues related to irrigation caused by the late arrivals of water in the canals.
He said cotton acreage may increase in Rajasthan a little as cotton sowing is reportedly carried out in the first week of June. According to the scientist, cotton sowing normally completes by May 31 in north India but farmers didn’t get water from the canal at the time of sowing.
Pre-sowing irrigation is must for cottonseed cultivation crop so that moisture should remain in the soil for next 30-35 days, he added. Since, water was not available in the canal in the major growing regions of Rajasthan and Haryana for pre-sowing irrigation , that’s why farmers couldn’t expand cotton’s area this year, he added.
(By Commoditiescontrol Bureau: +91-22-40015505)
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