Farmers told to shift from cotton

Tag : in cotton

The central government has advised farmers to replace cotton withpearl millet (Bajra), jowar and sunflower in areas where sowing hasbeen delayed even though it is confident that the forecast ofimproved rain in the coming weeks will speed up sowing. We held areview meeting today and have arrived at the conclusion that thereis nothing to panic and there is still time for improvement insowing in areas where cotton is grown, a senior governmentofficial told FE. He added that rains have already revived inAndhra Pradesh and Maharashtra since the past few days and willimprove in the coming weeks. Barring some parts of Karnataka, themonsoon has resumed in most dry areas of Andhra Pradesh andMaharashtra, the official explained.
Indias southwest monsoon which enters the mainland around June iscrucial for the countrys agriculture as more than 75% of around234 million farmers depend on it for irrigation. This year, themonsoon has been erratic and after making a good advent in June, itslowed down in the subsequent weeks. According to the IndianMeteorological Department, the cumulative seasonal rainfall duringJune 1 to July 23 has been 2% below average for the country as awhole. Overall, out of the 36 meteorological subdivisions, rainfallhas been excess in over 9, normal in 12 and deficient or scanty inover 15 sectors.
A big fall-out of this uneven pattern has affected cotton, one ofthe most important cash crops which is grown during the kharifseason, was sown on an area of around 69.7 lakh hectare as comparedto 79.2 lakh hectare during the same period last year. The sharpfall in the area under cotton has prompted fears that production inthe country might fall much below last years 31.5 million bales (1bale=170 kilograms). Some industry associations have even projecteda production of less than 30 million bales. There can be some lossof yield in cotton, the official added. He said that the situationregarding other main kharif crops, like paddy, was extremelysatisfactory.As per latest government data, paddy has been sown onaround 170.1 lakh hectare till date.