Cotton sowing may go up in Gujarat this kharif season

Cotton sowing prospects in Gujarat have improved this kharif season amidst prediction of a good rainfall, agriculture department officials said today.

In the first week of kharif sowing, the cotton acreage across Gujarat has touched 42,100 hectares against 13,000 hectares in the comparable period last year, a state agri department official said.

"Pre-monsoon sowing picks up after mid-May," he said. "The pre-monsoon sowing of cotton so far has been in areas where farmers have irrigation facility," he said adding that the scattered pre-monsoon activity in the state could boost the sowing further.

"Pre-monsoon activity has been good in Gujarat this year, including Saurashtra region, which was dry last year. We are expecting cotton sowing to spurt and production to touch over one crore bales (one bales is equals 170 kg) this year," a Cotton Corporation of India (CCI) official said.

Last year, the cotton sowing dipped in Gujarat owing to deficient rains in Saurashtra and Kutch region, a major cotton growing belt.

Against an average area of 27 lakh hectares covered under cotton in the state, the total area under the white commodity in 2012 stood at 24.77 lakh hectares.

The total cotton acreage in Gujarat reached a high of 29.82 lakh hectares in 2011.

The total sowing under kharif has reached 65,500 hectares till first week of June as compared to 47,600 hectares in the corresponding period last year, a state official said.

However, while there has been spurt in cotton sowing in the first week of Kharif sowing, acreage under groundnut has dipped as compared to previous year in the comparable period.

Acreage under groundnut in first week of kharif sowing stood at 800 hectares against 4,300 hectares in the comparable period last season, state officials said.