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Land under cotton cultivation likely to shrink in Punjab, Haryana

Chandigarh: Punjab and Haryana, which contributes almost 12 per cent to the country’s cotton output, are likely to witness a major fall in the area under the crop cultivation this season.

The area under crop cultivation in these States may dip by 14-15 per cent this kharif season against last year’s area due to early rainfall and threat from pest attack.

Punjab is expecting area under cultivation to dip to 5.20 lakh hectares this season against last year’s area of 6.04 lakh hectares, a reduction of 84,000 hectares. As a result, the cotton output would come down to 22 lakh bales, a fall of 1.55 lakh bales compared to last year, a senior officer of Punjab Agriculture Department said.

“The main reasons behind the fall in area under cultivation in Punjab have been unexpected rains, threat of mealy bug pest and anticipation of higher minimum support price (MSP) of paddy. However, we are confident of achieving a yield of 730 kg per lint,” he added.

Apart from rainfall, mealy bug has turned out to be a major threat to cotton crop in Punjab. Last year, three to four per cent of the total output was damaged because of the pest’s attack.

“After suffering huge losses last year due to the attack of mealy bug on cotton, farmers this year preferred to grow paddy and maize and this trend was evident in Faridkot, Moga, Sangrur and Bathinda districts,” the officer said.

Similarly, Haryana expects area under cotton cultivation to see a fall of 71,000 hectares at 4.12 lakh hectares compared to last year’s actual area of 4.83 lakh hectares. The State is expecting the total cotton output to fall down to 18 lakh bales from 18.85 lakh bales achieved in 2007.

“Adverse climatic conditions led by intermittent rains forced farmers to grow other crops such as paddy,” a senior agriculture officer of Haryana government said. He added that frequent rains caused crust formation in fields retarding cotton growth.

Meanwhile, reduction in area under cotton cultivation may prove unfortunate for the spinning industry as it feels low production would push up cotton prices, which in turn would affect the profitability of the industry.

“The cotton prices at present are already 40 per cent higher than last year’s prices and now the dip in area in Punjab and Haryana would certainly hit the margins of the industry as it would further cause a rise in cotton prices,” Vardhman Textiles Corporate General Manager I.J. Dhuria said. -- PTI

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