Cotton farmers plan on switching to maize, soybean for better realisation

Historically, farmers bring in more area in favour of the crop which realised higher last year

Lured by higher realisation in the last few months, cotton farmers are planning to migrate to other competing crops, including maize and soybean, this kharif season.

Cotton prices remained highly volatile, with average monthly model price hovering below the benchmark minimum support price (MSP), barring a few months, during the last one year. As against the MSP of raw cotton for 29.5-30.5 mm fixed at Rs 5,450 a quintal, the natural fibre was trading with a discount to the MSP. By contrast, however, the average realisation from maize and soybean was reported higher than cotton during the last one year.