Despite rains playing a spoilsport for the cotton crop in North Indian states, particularly Punjab and Haryana, the area under cotton this year has shown considerable rise.
Rains which lashed Haryana and Punjab last month had done much damage to the cotton area in both the states. However, cotton sowing this year has remained well on the course.
According to reports, around 550,000 hectare area has been covered under the cotton crop till date this year as against 492,000 hectare covered under the crop last year. Haryana has set a target of 600,000 hectares for cotton this year targeting 25,444 bales (1 bale is 170 kg) .
Officials in the state agriculture department maintained, cotton sowing was still underway in Haryana and they were anticipating completing the target. Rains last month had affected around 5,000 hectares area under cotton in Haryana. The officials maintained that despite the area getting affected by the rains, steps were taken to help farmers to go in for re-sowing so that damage could be minimised.
Similarly, farm officials from Punjab maintained that despite rains damaging 50,000 hectares, area under cotton in Punjab has reached 570,000 hectares as against 520,000 hectares targeted. The rains had damaged considerable area districts like Amritsar and Muktsar but re-sowing was underway to ensure damaged area is covered.
The increased area under cotton in both the states show that some area from kharif crops could have been diverted under the cotton crop this year, as cotton farmers fetched better remunerations last year.
Farm officials maintained that as against 483,000 hectares cotton area last year and this year 570,000 hectares has been brought under the crop. The increase can be attributed to the farmers, shifting from cultivating paddy to cotton.