Yield Drop, Pruned Farming To Hit Cotton Output
Indias cotton output in the 1996/97 (October-September) season is expected to fall from last years levels due to a fall in yield in the northern states and a reduction in the area under cultivation, a senior industry official said on Tuesday.
My own feeling is that the cotton crop would be around 15.8 million bales. There is a fall in the quality and yield in the northern states of Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan, M P Gajaria, secretary general of Indian Cotton Mills Federation, told Reuters in an interview. One bale equals 170 kg (382 pounds).
The area under cotton crop has also been reduced to 8.81 million hectares this year from 9.06 million hectares last year, he said.
India produced a record 16 million bales of cotton in 1995/96. Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan account for nearly 25 percent of the countrys cotton production.
In Andhra Pradesh, 200,000 bales were lost due to a cyclone, Gajaria said.
A cyclone in October 1996 was estimated to have damaged 1.3 million hectares of crops in Andhra Pradesh state. Authorities said at the time that an estimated 55,000 hectares of cotton crops were fully or partially damaged.
Andhra Pradesh produced 2.89 million bales in 1995/96. The Cotton Advisory Board (CAB), a body consisting of industry and government officials, has estimated the 1996/97 crop at 11.5 million bales. Gajaria said the crop in the western state of Gujarat was also expected to be about three million bales, down from 3.22 million in 1995/96.
The cotton yield and quality over the years have deteriorated, particularly in the northern states, because of adulteration of seeds, Gajaria said.
He said of the total seeds requirement of 78 million kg, only 30 percent was certified by the government. The rest were bought in from private dealers, and Gajaria said this might account for the low cotton quality.
This is one of the main reasons for which our cotton yield is only 300 kg per hectare compared to the world average of 563 kg per hectare, Gajaria said.
In the 1996/97 season until the end of January India had allowed 1.05 million bales for exports.
My own feeling is that another 200,000 bales will be allowed by the government in the current year, Gajaria said.