Cotton acreage likely to dip on pest attacks, monsoon delay

Pune, June 14: Cotton acreage is likely to go down to 108-110 lakh hectares in the 2016-17 kharif season on the back of pest attacks in key cotton-growing areas of the country and a delay in monsoon in other parts, according to top industry experts. The area may further drop down to 104-105 lakh hectares if planting gets delayed, experts said. The area under cotton cultivation was 119 lakh hectares in 2015-16 and arrivals of 341 lakh bales were recorded according to the meeting of the Cotton Advisory Board.

The Central Institute of Cotton Research (CICR), Nagpur has estimated a drop in cotton planting this year by more than 30% in the northern regions. The cotton planting area has dipped by more than 50% in Punjab to 2.39 lakh hectares, against the expected acreage of 5.2 lakh hectares, KR Kranthi, director, CICR, told FE. This has happened chiefly because of a whitefly attack in the previous season.

Acreage should fall by 50 % even in Rajasthan, another major cotton growing area, and may touch 2 lakh hectares. Farmers here are still continuing to sow and may reach the 2 lakh-hectare mark, he said, Similarly, the expectation in Haryana is around 80% plantation at around 4.5 lakh hectares from the expected 6 lakh hectares. From the expected 114-15 lakh hectares, cotton planting may go down to 10 lakh hectares, Kranthi said. After May 25, cotton sowing gets bad in these regions and does not produce the expected results, he pointed out. In Maharashtra, sowing is based on the monsoon, expected to set in after June 22, he said. “Things are not looking good in Gujarat either because of the the monsoon delay. Sowing looks good in both Madhya Pradesh and Karnataka. In Andhra Pradesh, sowing gets done by late August and therefore, we shall have to wait and watch. But because of the monsoon delay, there could be a shortfall in area,” Kranthi said.

There had been reports that state governments in Andhra and Telangana were discouraging farmers from sowing cotton. The threat of pink bollworm may result in lower cotton sowing in major growing states like Gujarat, AP and Karnataka this season.