It could be a sad climax to a good start. Prolonged spells of unfavourably wet weather prevailing in the North Indian states of Haryana and Punjab look set to impact the cotton-picking operation, delaying it by 10 to 15 days.
The North India Cotton Association maintains that the untimely rains in the two neighbouring states may even damage some of the crop.
“The extended monsoon showers is set to damage a part of the crop. We have yet to ascertain its extent,” says association president Rakesh Rathi.
Cotton has already started arriving in small quantities in the markets of Punjab; and it is towards the middle of this month that the activity generally gain pace. However, continued rains in both states has led agriculture experts as well to believe that this time the picking season would get delayed by at least 10-15 days.
Haryana has received a total of 1,640 mm rainfall this season as on yesterday. Punjab has reported floods in some districts which have cotton crop.
Ravi Punia, Haryana’s Joint Director (Cotton) , says rains in last couple of days are not encouraging signs for the crop.
Officials in North regional Station of Central Institute for Cotton research say the September rains could create multiple problems for the crop. They note that the rains are damaging as balls on the lower side have begun rotting. In the case of the varieties sown earlier, the balls have started opening — it can affect the quality of the crop.
Agriculture officials say that the yield for the crop could come under stress if the skies fail to clear up in next few days.
Punjab and Haryana were till recently eyeing a bumper harvest for cotton this year as the area under cotton had this time surged in both the states, courtesy better remunerations. The two states were eying a production of around 50 lakh bales of cotton this season as against 39 lakh bales cotton — a 30 per cent increase.
Punjab this time has cotton sowing over an area of 5.60 lakh hectares, as against 4.83 lakh hectares last year. As for Haryana, it is around 6.05 lakh hectares as against 4.92 lakh hectares last year.
