Telangana cotton cultivation area is planned to increase by more than 55 percent
Farmers who are excited about the attractive prices and demand for fiber this season are expected to go for higher coverage.
Since the start of the cotton season in October 2021, natural fiber prices have been above the minimum support price of ప్రధాన 5,726 for medium lead cotton. Prices have been close to ₹ 12,000 per quintal over the past few weeks in most agricultural markets in the country.
Change from cotton this year
Farmers who have been cultivating chillies and paddy from cotton this season have been hit hard by the virus, which has caused severe damage to the spice crop.
Although farmers harvested cotton at around 24 LH during the 2020-21 season, the acreage fell to 6 LH this season, much to the surprise of the government, which expected coverage to cross the 28 LH mark. The Telangana government, which has promoted a record 24 LH area in 2020-21, has set a target of 28 LH cotton in 2021-22. However, it fell flat as farmers decided to reduce the acreage to about 18 LH.
“We expect the cotton acreage to be 28-30 LH and the paddy area to be 20 LH in the coming kharif season. In addition, we cultivate horticultural crops at about 5 lh. Telangana Agriculture Minister S Niranjan Reddy said that red maize is likely to be sown in about 6 LHs.
The total pruned area during the season is about 57 lh.
Identifying groups
The state government has identified 1,332 cotton, 1,000 paddy and 82 red maize clusters.
The Minister said that we are going to formulate a specific crop plan for each crop in these clusters.
The state agriculture ministry has convened a high-level meeting to discuss a comprehensive plan for the kharif season. The government estimates that 5 lakh tonnes of urea will be required for the season.
Cotton cultivation in Telangana has grown in line with industry expectations. Across the country, the area under cotton fell by nearly 8 lakh hectares to 120 liters, up from 127.87 LH last season. The cotton seed industry, however, sees a corner recovery and expects growth of about 15 per cent in acreage last year.
In view of the growth numbers, about 4.75 crore packets of seeds are required for this season.
Published
April 17, 2022
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