The 2006-07 cotton season has got off to a bleak start for farmers in Andhra Pradesh. Farmers have so far sown seeds in 9,00,090 hectare in the state, and in 1,01,312 hectare in Guntur district. | |
| While rains hit many parts of the state, farmers of cotton-growing areas in Krishna, Guntur and Prakasam districts have had no such luck. If rains fail to arrive this month too, farmers fear cotton plants would suffer from stunted growth, which cuts into yields. |
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| G Punnaiah Chowdary, president, Andhra Pradesh Cotton Association (Apcot), told Business Standard that up to 90 per cent farmers opted for Bt cotton this year. |
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| Even if hectareage fell short of last year's 10.37 lakh hectare, harvest might cross last year's production of 34 lakh bales due to growing of Bt cotton. Thanks to government intervention and agri officials' vigilance, a 400 gm Bt cotton seeds packet was available at Rs 750 as against last year's Rs 2,000 and above. Officials also took strict steps to check infiltration of fake Bt cotton seed. |
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| He said cotton ginning mills in the state earned Rs 18,500-19,000 per candy (355.6 kg) of 28 mm fully pressed (FP) cotton, Rs 19,200-19,800 per candy of 29 mm FP cotton, Rs 20,000-20,500 per candy of 30 mm FP cotton, Rs 20,600-21,000 per candy of 31 mm FP cotton, and Rs 22,000-22,500 per candy of 32 mm of FP cotton. |
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| Kapas (with seed) fetched Rs 2, 200-2,500 per quintal and seed Rs 900-1,000 per quintal. |
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| MBM Santosh Kumar, director, Jhansi Prakash Enterprises, said there were 370 ginning mills in Guntur city, about 600 in Guntur district and about 1,000 in the state. |
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| These mills had almost completed ginning of cotton crop of 2005-06 with 8 lakh bales fully pressed in the state, including 5 lakh bales (170 kg) in Guntur district. Sixty per cent of ginning operations took place in the district. |
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| The mills sold away 50 per cent of fully pressed bales to the spinning mills in Tamil Nadu, 30 per cent to the mills in AP, and 20 per cent to Gujarat mills. |
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| He said spinning mills preferred AP cotton to the cotton of other states as it gives fine yarn number 60. The crop that is harvested in AP in November, December and January, is most suitable for manufacturing finest yarns. |
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| Audri (sub-standard) cotton crop, grown under wells in Nellore, Prakasam and Guntur and Telangana districts would now hit the market, he said. |
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| While Telangana farmers bring their crop to market yards, traders buy the same at farmers' doorsteps in coastal Andhra. This crop, raised in about 5,000 acres in coastal districts, has been estimated at 20,000 bales. It fetches a price of Rs 1,800-2,000 per quintal. |
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