Cotton output may grow 3.76% to 345 lakh bales in 2016-17

The cotton production is likely to increase by 3.76 per cent to 345 lakh bales in 2016-17 as compared to the last year, mainly due to better yield, a top central government official today said.
One cotton bale weighs 170 kg.
"This year we are expecting a better crop compared to the last year due to better yield even though the area (under cultivation) has dropped significantly.
"We have estimated 345 lakh bale cotton output during 2016-17," Textile Commissioner Kavita Gupta told reporters here after the second meeting of the Cotton Advisory Board.
The total production in 2015-16 stood at 332 lakh bales.

The cotton marketing year runs from October to September.

The production is also expected to increase as there were less pest attacks, including white fly in Punjab, Haryana and pink ball worms in Gujarat, Gupta said, adding in 2017-18 the total output is likely to grow in double digit.
The area under cotton plantation is estimated to decline to 108.45 lakh hectares from 122.92 lakh hectares in the previous year, the textile commissioner said.
However, she said the area under cotton is expected to increase to 119 lakh hectares, or even more, in 2017-18 due to effective government intervention.
"We are expecting the area to increase under cotton as the monsoon was on time and farmers got better price for their crop. So some area under pulses was diverted to cotton crop. There was a lot of efforts by the government," she added.

The area under indigenous variety has increased and acreage under Bt Cotton has slightly declined, she said.
"The Indian Council of Agricultural Research has also come up with more native varieties, which are equally good in yield. Once they are commercialised in 2017-18, the area under the indigenous variety will grow even more," she added.
Total yield is estimated to grow by almost 20 per cent to 540.80 kg per hectares in 2016-17 from 459.16 kg per hectares in 2015-16.
"The yield is estimated to be better in almost all cotton producing region except Tamil Nadu, where it declined significantly due to moisture stress," Gupta said.

The total exports is estimated to have declined to 60 lakh bales during 2016-17 from 69.07 lakh bales in 2015-16.
She said till May the shipments to Bangladesh constituted 40 per cent of the total exports, while it has shrunk drastically to Pakistan, which witnessed a bumper crop.