Cotton sowing falters on dry weather in South India

The main cash crops grown during the kharif season have fallen below last year’s level during the week ended on Friday, owing to dry weather in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, the highest growing area after Gujarat and Maharashtra.

According to data from the Department of Agriculture, sowing of all other main crops grown during the season was higher than last year thanks to well-distributed rains.

Till Friday, kharif crops were planted in 84.74 million hectares of land, up from 80.84 in the year-ago period. The data showed that cotton has been planted in 10.56 million hectares of land till August 8, which is 0.66 million hectares less than the previous year.

However, with India Meteorological Department (IMD) predicting the possibility of southwest monsoon returning to the southern parts of the country around August 25, the gap in rains could be bridged in the coming weeks.

Data showed that, in Andhra Pradesh, till Thursday, cotton was planted in 1.79 million hectares, down from 1.91 million hectares last year. In Telangana, cotton was sown in 0.35 million hectares till Thursday, down from 0.47 million.

In Gujarat, the second biggest cotton growing state after Maharashtra, the crop was sown in 2.5 million hectares till Thursday, down from 2.82 million hectares a year ago.

India produced 35.32 million bales (one bale = 170 kg) of cotton in 2014-15, marginally lower than the 35.90 million bales a year ago.

India’s southwest monsoon was 26 per cent less than normal during the week ended on August 5, mainly due to a 50 per cent shortfall in showers in Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Kerala and Karnataka.

Overall, data from the IMD showed that between June 1 and August 5, the southwest monsoon was six per cent below normal. In the southern Peninsula, the shortfall was high at 21 per cent less than normal.