With target of 5L hectares, Punjab set for record cotton sowing this season

BEATING LOCKDOWN BLUES Area under cash crop has already crossed last yr’s 3.9L hectare mark

BATHINDA: Undeterred by shortage of farm labourers amid coronavirus outbreak, cotton sowing in Punjab has crossed last year’s mark of 3.9 lakh hectares even as sowing is still in the full swing.

State agriculture director Sutantar Kumar Airi said that cotton was sown 3.89 lakh hectare area till Saturday and they were yet to receive the cultivation figures for Sunday .

“Sowing is in full swing and we are confident to achieve the target of 5 lakh hectares this season, which will be a record in the last two decades,” he said.

So far this year, Bathinda has recorded the maximum cultivation of cotton crop at 1.26 lakh hectares, followed by Fazilka at 93,000 hectares, Muktsar at 79,000 hectares and Mansa at 83,000 hectares, said Airi.

In 2019, a total of 3.9 lakh hectare area was covered under cotton cultivation in semi-arid districts of southern Punjab.

State agriculture secretary KS Pannu said organised efforts to boost crop diversification have helped in enhancing the area under cotton. “Like sowing, cotton harvesting will also not face any problem as traditionally, picking of cotton balls is done by Punjabi labourers,” said Pannu.He said for the past several months, the agriculture department had been motivating farmers to shun water-guzzling paddy crop and switch over to the traditional crop of cotton.

“Before the popularity of paddy in the 1990s, cotton was sown on about 7 lakh hectares in the state. Owing to various factors, including better prices for rice and repeated pest attacks on cotton, the area under cotton cultivation shrunk drastically in the last 30 years,” he said.

‘LOW-COST, HIGH-YIELD CROP’

Pannu said persistent efforts of agricultural scientists have made cotton farming a low-cost and high yield crop.

“Similarly, Cotton Corporation of India (CCI) also played a crucial role by purchasing a sizeable part of cotton at MSP (minimum support price). These factors encouraged more farmers to grow cotton,” he added.

This year, cotton sowing started with a delay of 10-15 days than the usual time due to the Covid-19 crisis. However, state agriculture officials say the delay would not have any adverse effect on the crop.

Bathinda chief agriculture officer (CAO) Bahadur Singh Sidhu said that last year, cotton was sown till June 5 and the state registered a record yield.

Fazilka CAO Manjit Singh said the district has already surpassed last year’s cotton sowing of 92,000 hectares. The department expects that the total area in Fazilka will touch the target of 1.25 lakh hectares this year.

AGRI DEPT HAD BEEN MOTIVATING FARMERS TO SHUN WATERGUZZLING PADDY CROP AND SWITCH OVER TO THE TRADITIONAL CROP OF COTTON