Cotton sowing in Gujarat has broken the record of last eight years and farmers have sown the fiber crop in 26.64 lakh hectare (LH) so far this kharif season. This comes at a time when other major cotton growing states are showing a declining trend.
Data released by the state agriculture directorate showed that till July 31, farmers in Gujarat, India's largest cotton producer, have completed cotton sowing in 26,64,565 hectares (ha). While this is the highest sowing area since 2015-16, when farmers sowed cotton in 27.21 lakh hectares, it is also the third highest sowing area for cotton in Gujarat in the last decade.
In 2014-15, Gujarat recorded 28.83 lakh hours of cotton sowing, followed by 27.21 lakh hours in 2015-16. In fact, cotton sowing in Gujarat has crossed the 26 lakh hectare mark for the first time since 2019-20.
The cotton acreage of 26.64 lakh hours is much higher than the 25.29 lakh hours recorded during kharif season of 2022-23 and 1.6 lakh hours more than the corresponding figure of last year. Overall, this is about 13 per cent higher than the cotton acreage of 23.60 lakh haunches in the last three years, the data shows.
Meanwhile, according to the central government data, cotton acreage in the country stood at 116.75 lakh hours, which is 1.16 per cent lower than 117.91 lakh hours recorded in the same period last year.
Apart from Gujarat, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Haryana have registered an increase in cotton sowing area by 1.38 lakh hours, 0.44 lakh hours and 0.20 lakh hours respectively. However, Karnataka, Telangana, Punjab and Maharashtra registered a decline of 2.33 lakh hours, 1.21 lakh hours, 0.84 lakh hours and 0.33 lakh hours, respectively.
The acreage of Gujarat is second only to Maharashtra at 40.58 lakh per hour. Till 28 July, sowing in Telangana was 16.48 lakh hours and the third highest in the country. Cotton sowing has been recorded in Rajasthan, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh and Karnataka at 7.28 lakh hours, 6.65 lakh hours, 6.30 lakh hours and 5.06 lakh hours respectively.
Within Gujarat, Surendranagar has emerged as the largest cotton district with farmers sowing the crop in 3.85 lakh hours. It is followed by Amreli (3.65 lakh hours), Bhavnagar (2.59 lakh hours), Rajkot (2.44 lakh hours) and Morbi (2.19 lakh hours).
Overall, the 11 districts of Saurashtra region have 19.03 lakh hectare cotton sowing area, which is more than 71 per cent of the state's total sowing area of 26.64 lakh hectare. As per the data, cotton has been sown for 2.92 lakh hours in eight districts of Central Gujarat, 2.32 lakh hours in six districts of North Gujarat, 1.65 lakh hours in seven districts of South Gujarat and 0.70 lakh hours in Kutch.
Admitting that cotton prices are also a factor, Bhupat Metalia, executive committee member of the Gujarat Spinners Association, said: “Cotton prices were set to skyrocket in 2021-22. But that was an isolated incident and prices have stabilized at around Rs 8,000 per quintal in 2022-23, which is higher and more realistic than 2020-21.
"About a month ago, China resumed import of cotton yarn from India and this is likely to provide relief to cotton prices in India," he added.
Metalia, who is also a cooperative leader, said that although groundnut can bring higher returns in absolute terms, sharecroppers hailing from tribal areas of Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra complain about the laborious practice of harvesting groundnut and the land The owners agree to enter into contracts with the farmers. only if the latter would allow them to grow cotton. That is why the area under cotton is increasing, he said.
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