Off-season cotton raised during summer is nature's unique gift to the state and among the summer cotton system, cotton as a catch crop, in banana fields would be a potential low cost technique, Dr. Ramamurthy, senior scientist (agricultural economics), said.
Of the 50,000 hectares of summer cotton grown in Tamil Nadu, 78 per cent was shared by MCU-5, while MCU-7 shared 12 per cent, LRA5166 five per cent and the rest collectively shared by MCU-9 and Anjali, he said.
Of the 28 districts, where cotton was being cultivated, summer cotton was grown in 14 districts, with 70 per cent area covered in Tirunelveli, Madurai, Namakkal and Erode districts.
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Saying that MCU-5 variety was being predominantly cultivated in the summer tract in the state for its versatile characteristics and high level adoptability, Ramamurthy said that MCU-7 was the next important summer variety, familiar in and around Tanjavur, Tiruchirappalli and Pudukottai, which fitted well in between two crops in rice fallow tracts, for its short duration. LRA-5166 and MCU-9 were popular in Erode and Namakkal districts, he said.
Ramamurthy said that during a CICR survey among the summer cotton tracts in the state, a special type of summer cotton was found growing as catch crop in the banana fields in and around Tiruchirappalli tract.
Farmers, after cultivating one or two ratoon crops of 'nendran' banana, start cultivating cotton as catch crop in the fields and cotton seeds were dibbled in February in between the banana rows, Ramamurthy said.
As the cotton crop comes up, simultaneously the matured banana crop will be cleared. Practice of cultivating cotton in banana fields is locally called as 'azhivazhai paruthi'.
In this method of cultivation, zero tillage practices are followed, saving preparatory cultivation cost and uptaking the surplus nutrients available as residues in the banana fields, he explained.
Saying that there was practically no irrigation cost in this method, Ramamurthy said that farmers, besides saving money, also enhance the utility of the land and nutrients.
As most of these catch crop cotton farmers were tenants, this practice was discovered by the tenant-farmers, in order to extract the soil nutrients and utilise the land to the maximum at the limited time, CICR scientists pointed out.
On comparative economics of summer cotton (MCU-7), Ramamurthy said that direct cost for the conventional MCU-7 was Rs.17,815 whereas for the catch crop it was only Rs.7,263 per hectare.