Area under cotton crop crosses 7-year high in Punjab

BATHINDA: The area under cotton in Punjab, which is the state’s second biggest kharif (summer sown) crop, has touched a seven-year high this season. According to the Punjab agriculture and farmers welfare department, cotton acreage stood at about 4.80 lakh hectares till Monday, surpassing the seven-year high of 4.45 lakh hectares in 2013-14.

Data compiled by the state agriculture department suggests that cotton sowing was recorded at over 4,80,751 hectares in Punjab till Monday evening, up from 3.23 lakh hectares in 2019-20 with a growth of over 22%.
In 2014-15, cotton was sown over 4.21 lakh hectares. In 2015-16, area under the crop went down to 3.35 lakh hectares and over 60% of the crop was damaged due to the whitefly attack. In 2016-17, 2017-18 and 2018-19, cotton was sown over 2.85 lakh hectares, 2.91 lakh hectares and 2.83 lakh hectares respectively.
In 2012-13, cotton acreage stood at 4.81 lakh hectares in Punjab. The fibre crop has been sown in three more districts this year, taking the number of districts under cotton to 11 in the state.
Earlier, cotton was being sown in eight districts. Over 95% of the area under cotton in Punjab falls in the districts of Bathinda, Mansa, Fazilka and Muktsar.
This year, cotton has been sown in Ludhiana, Patiala and Fatehgarh Sahib, though in smaller acreage. The farm department hopes to reach the target area of 5 lakh hectares as cotton sowing may continue till June 10. Last year, the area under cotton was 3.92 lakh hectares.
Officials attributed higher area under the crop in Punjab to increase in the minimum support price (MSP) of cotton, Cotton Corporation of India (CCI) making purchases in the ongoing season after four years and efforts of the state government to reduce the area under paddy.
“The state government was worried about achieving the target of sowing cotton on 5 lakh hectares. For that, the department made a lot of efforts to prevail upon farmers to shift from paddy to cotton. Farmers got good returns from cotton in the last few years and decided to bring more area under it this year from paddy. These efforts will continue in the years to come,” Punjab agriculture secretary Kahan Singh Pannu said.