By NAYAN DAVE
Kharif cotton sowing for the season 2022-23 in Gujarat is more likely to enhance by at the very least 20 p.c, in comparison with the earlier season as a mad rush for sowing the money crop is being witnessed amongst farmers within the state properly forward of its schedule in anticipation of excellent return amid excessive costs of cotton in home in addition to worldwide markets.
Since final one decade, costs of cotton and groundnut remained nearly identical at practically Rs 1000 to Rs 1300 per 20 kg, says Atul Ganatra, president of Cotton Association of India, including, “However, in the current season the rates of cotton have escalated as high as Rs 2500 per 20kg. But groundnut prices remained almost at the same level. Due to existing high prices of cotton, a large number of farmers are preferring cotton over groundnut. In fact, already pre-monsoon cotton sowing in Gujarat has almost touched 1,40.000 hectors !!!”
Gujarat is the biggest producer of cotton with greater than 25 p.c share in India’s complete manufacturing. As per the Cotton Association of India (CAI) estimate, cotton manufacturing within the nation is predicted at 33.51 million bales (170 kg per bale) for the season 2021-22 (October 2021 to September 2022) in comparison with earlier season’s 35.30 million bales. CAI has estimated 8.9 million bales manufacturing of cotton in Gujarat this season adopted by Maharashtra 8.35 million bales, Telangana 4 million bales and Karnataka 2.1 million bales.
“In the current 2021-22 season, farmers in Gujarat got high prices of cotton amid overall demand of the agro-commodity. Because of this reason, farmers in Gujarat started sowing cotton without waiting for the rain to come. For the current season, cotton sowing in the state was over 2.25 million hectares. We are expecting the sowing area of cotton to cross 2.6 million hectares for the season 2022-23,” mentioned CM Patel, joint director of Agriculture, Government of Gujarat. Over the previous few years, numbers of spinning mills inside Gujarat have elevated and in consequence, farmers are preparing markets for his or her harvest inside their dwelling state, claimed Patel including that within the final 3-4 years, cotton exports from India remained on larger aspect which translated into larger costs of their cotton crops. Those farmers who’re having irrigation services or their fields located on the banks of rivers, have taken calculative danger of sowing cotton earlier than the onset of monsoon, he mentioned. Some farmers are utilizing drip irrigation to make use of water economically in case of late monsoon, he added.
Terming the pattern of pre-monsoon sowing of cotton ‘dangerous’ for farmers, Sargar Rabari, trustee of Khedut Ekta Manch (KEM) says that farmers shouldn’t rely upon solely cotton, primarily based on return they bought throughout earlier season. “Many factors including international demands decide prices of cotton. Countries like the USA and China are one of the biggest producers of cotton in the world apart from India. As cotton crop declined in these both countries, international prices of cotton escalated. In case, in the next season, if there would be bumper cotton crops in these two countries, cotton prices may decline. From the KEM platform we continuously persuade farmers to go for multiple crops.”
Rabari says that there’s a mad rush for sowing cotton in Gujarat, however KEM recommends them to go for groundnut and Soya as these crops are safer in comparison with cotton and equally worthwhile. In the case of cotton, farmers don’t have liberty to take winter crops, as cotton crops cycle is of practically eight months, he says including that however within the case of groundnut, farmers get time to take winter crops like pulses and others. Moreover, cotton growers had confronted problems with pink bollworm pest menace, he added.
Source: www.financialexpress.com”