Jalgaon district is projected to have 5.25 lakh hectares for cotton sowing acreage out of the 9 lakh hectares projected for cotton sowing in north Maharashtra districts. This is followed by Dhule district (2.14 lakh hectares) and Nandurbar district (1.21 lakh hectares) .
In Nashik district, cotton is cultivated only in the Malegaon and Yeola talukas, covering 45,000 hectares.
Sanjay Patil, a cotton grower, said, "I completed cotton sowing on five acres in Jalgaon district.
Farmers who have a water source have completed cotton sowing. But farmers who don't have a source of water will start sowing cotton only after they get adequate rain."
State agriculture department officials said farmers who have a source of water usually start sowing in the second half of May.
"So far, around 25% of the sowing was completed in Jalgaon district alone, while in Dhule and Jalgaon district, around 2-3% of cotton sowing has been completed so far. Overall sowing in north Maharashtra district is around 10 to 15%," said an office.
Apart from cotton, other crops like maize, soybean, moong, tur, bajra, urid, and paddy are the other major kharif crops in the region. Meanwhile, the agriculture department advised the farmers not to start sowing until there is adequate rainfall in their areas.
In June last year, the state agriculture department had projected that the cotton sowing acreage will be on 5.01 lakh hectares in Jalgaon district and 2.03 lakh hectares in Dhule district.
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