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Good rains over Gujarat, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh have come as a big boon for millions of cotton farmers. They have sown almost 75 per cent more area under cotton as compared to the same period last year in response to the benign weather.
This, many feel, could push up India's total cotton production in the 2013-14 season (October-September) to close to the 2011-12 production levels of 35 million bales (1 bale=170 kilograms), if the weather remains favourable in the next few weeks. Gujarat, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh are the four main states which contribute 80 per cent of the total cotton production in the country.
According to the latest data from the department of agriculture, the biggest gains have been made in Gujarat and Maharashtra. In these two states, 270 per cent and 88 per cent more area was sown, respectively, till July 4 over the same period last year at 2.8 million hectares and two million hectares. In 2012-13, India's cotton production slumped by almost four per cent to 33.8 million bales mainly because of drought in Maharashtra and Gujarat.
A higher cotton output in 2013-14 could boost India's exports of cotton and yarn to major markets, which include the world's biggest importer, China, as well as Bangladesh, Indonesia and Vietnam. The country exported a record 13 million bales of cotton in 2011-12. The exports had dropped to eight-nine million bales in 2012-13 because of low domestic production.
Sowing of other crops too continued at the breakneck speed seen since the early onset of the southwest monsoon in the middle of June. Till July 5, all kharif crops were sown in 40.2 million hectares, 86.8 per cent more than during the same period last year.
Rice, the biggest foodgrain grown during the kharif season, has been planted in 6.9 million hectares, which is 21.8 per cent more than the same period last year. Oilseeds and pulses have been planted in 11.02 million hectares and 1.8 million hectares, respectively, 316 per cent and 361 per cent more than same period last year.
The more than average rainfall in most parts has filled the 85-odd major reservoirs to the brim.
According to the Central Water Commission (CWC), water levels in the reservoirs monitored by it stood at 46.6 billion cubic metres as on July 4, which is 184 per cent of last year's level.
