 "Monsoon deficit to hit cotton sowing in India by 50%")
According to the Indian agriculture department data, as on July 4, cotton sowing has been done on 3.05 million hectares this year, almost down by 50 per cent from the 6.01 million hectares in the same time in 2015. Gujarat, the highest cotton growing state, has registered a 66 per cent fall in kharif cotton sowing. As per the Gujarat agriculture department data, area under cotton has decreased to 7,07,500 hectares so far this year as against 2.09 million hectares in 2015.
Deficit monsoons are to blame for the delayed sowing in Gujarat. At a time, when the monsoon deficit for the country as a whole is just about 6 per cent, Gujarat is yet to receive good rains. The monsoon deficit in the state stands at 54 per cent causing concern for farmers and also for the state government.
"The only reason for slow sowing progress in cotton is scarcity of rain this year. Earlier monsoon was predicted to be about normal but so far many areas in Gujarat and other cotton growing states have still not received sufficient rains and as a result we have seen almost 50 per cent fall in area under the crop," said Arun Dalal, leading cotton trader from Ahmedabad.
This has already started impacting cotton prices, which have gone up by 29 per cent to Rs 45,000 per candy of 356 kg in the last one month. As per the third advance estimate of agriculture department, cotton production is predicted to be around 30.5 million bales for the year 2015-16 down from 38.4 million bales of 2014-15. One bale is equal to 170 kg.
A Kadi based cotton trader said: "There are only 2.5 million bales cotton stock available in India. Of it something 8,00,000 bales are with Gujarat. If the region does not receive good showers soon, demand for cotton form mills may further push cotton prices in July."
Cotton is not the only crop in Gujarat, which has been affected. Overall sowing of kharif crops is down by 65 per cent to 1.51 million hectares so far as against 4.24 million hectares during the corresponding period last year.
According to state agriculture department data, oilseeds sowing in Gujarat has fallen to 4,90,900 hectares from 1.26 million hectares while pulse area has declined from 1,25,900 to 56,700 hectares this kharif season.
The state is also facing drinking water problem as the recent rains have not brought new waters in dams across the Gujarat. According to Narmada, Water Resources, Water Supply and Kalpasar department of Gujarat, live water stock level in 204 dams is just about 33.13 per cent including Narmada dam.
A Gujarat government official said: "Several cities in Saurashtra and Kutch region have drinking water problems and state government is still supplying water to many villages as the state has not received enough rains. New water in dams has not arrived during last one week which has become matter of concern for the government."
Gross storage capacity of 203 dams is 15,774.24 million cubic meters (MCM) and current live stock is just 2,751.44 MCM as on July 7 2016. Sardar Sarovar Narmada dam have gross storage capacity of 5,265.84 MCM and current available stock is 4,219.54 MCM.
The state is currently more depending on Naramada water as majority of dams in Saurashtra and Kutch regions are almost dry. The condition is more critical in Saurashtra and Kutch where current gross storage is less than 10 per cent. Several districts such as Rajkot, Bhavnagar, Porbandar and Jamnagar have faced water supply cut for daily use.