Cotton cultivation up in south, centre

The central and southern states are increasing cotton production, while it is slowly coming down in the northern states. There has been a slow decline in the production of cotton in Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan. The western states, Gujarat, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh and the southern states, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu recorded considerable growth in the last three consecutive years.

The Central India produced 17 million bales from 6.12 million hectares in 2008-09, followed by 17.6 million bales from 6.73 million hectares in 2009-10 and 20.22 million bales from 7.26 million hectares in 2010-11, while the south recorded 6.7 million bales from 1.92 million hectares in 2008-09, followed by 6.6 million bales from 2.02 million hectares in 2009-10 and 8.25 million bales from 2.34 million hectares in 2010-11 season.

The northern region recorded slow fall in both area and production in the last three years. The three states of Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan have contributed 3.9 million bales from 1.29 million hectares in 2008-09, followed by 4 million bales from 1.49 million hectares in 2009-10 and 3.68 million bales from 1.23 million hectares in 2010-11.

When asked about the reasons for increase in the production of cotton in the central and southern parts of India, the Andhra Pradesh Cotton Association president, G Punnaiah Chowdary, said the farmers were attracted to the high prices from cotton. Besides, farmers are also shifting to cotton from other crops because of high yield and less risk in the Bt cotton cultivation. “Farmers from Andhra Pradesh are moving to cotton from groundnut, chillies and other spices, while their counterparts from Gujarat have moved away from sowing groundnut and pulses for cotton. In Maharastra, farmers are withdrawing from soybean and sunflower and cultivating cotton,” Punnaiah Chowdary said.

Maharastra continues to top the list of cotton cultivating states in the country with the crop spread over 3.14 million hectares in 2008-09. The crop area had gone up to 4 million hectares in 2010-11. Gujarat occupies the second place with 2.35 million hectares in 2008-09, which had gone up to 2.62 million hectares in 2010-11.

There has been an increase in the crop area in Andhra Pradesh, which stands third in the country in extent. The crop which was cultivated in 1.4 million hectares in 2008-09 had gone up to 1.71 million hectares in 2010-11. Tamil Nadu stands at the bottom of the cotton growing states in the country with the crop cultivated in 160,000 hectares in 2010-11.

However, Gujarat stands ahead of other states in total production by getting 9 million bales in 2008-09 and 10.68 million bales in 2010-11. Andhra Pradesh contribution too is on the higher side with only a slight fall in 2009-10, where the total production had come down by 100,000 bales against the previous year. The state had produced 5.3 million bales in 2008-09 and had seen a positive increase to 6.57 million bales in 2010-11.
 

A COMPARISON
		North (Punjab, Haryana & Rajasthan)	Central (Gujarat, MP & Maharastra)	South (AP, TN & Karnataka)
2008-09	Area	1.29	6.12	1.92
	Production	3.90	17.00	6.70
2009-10	Area	1.49	6.73	2.02
	Production	4.00	17.60	6.60
2010-11	Area	1.23	7.26	2.34
	Production	3.68	20.22	8.25
Area in million hectares & production in million bales (1 bale is 170 kg)
Sources: Andhra Pradesh Cotton Association, Cotton Corporation of India