It is heartening to see various Governments put their best efforts to increase the cotton production – especially at a time when cotton price and availability continue to be a major concern for the Indian textile industry.
Telangana Government, reportedly, is targeting to increase the area under cotton by 55–65 per cent to about 28–30 lakh hectares (lh) from last year’s 18 lakh hectares even as the cotton seed industry pegged the growth in cotton acreage at 15 per cent in the upcoming kharif season, starting July.
Farmers, enthused by attractive prices and demand for the fibre crop this season, are expected to go for a higher coverage.
“We are expecting cotton acreage of 28-30 lh in the upcoming kharif season, while paddy coverage is expected to be 20 lh. Besides, we will have horticultural crops cultivated in about 5 lh. Red gram is expected to be sown in about 6 lh,” said S Niranjan Reddy, Telangana Agriculture Minister.
Notably, the total cropped area for the season will likely be about 57 lh.
Similarly, Punjab is also expecting 23 per cent more area under cotton cultivation. The state has set a target to grow cotton crop on 4 lakh hectares (23 per cent hike) this kharif season, despite a dismal last year that saw crops being damaged due to pink bollworm attack.
A total of 3.35 lakh hectares were under cotton crop in 2021, which was 75,000 hectares more than 2020 (2.50 lakh hectares).
Source : https://in.apparelresources.com/