Apcot puts cotton harvest at 35 lakh bales

Generally, farmers invoke the Gods for rains. But cotton farmers of Andhra Pradesh want the rain God to keep away at least for the next fortnight. This season they have had enough of rain and more of it would only harm their crop.

According to the Andhra Pradesh Cotton Association (Apcot) here, though the crop acreage has come down from last year(2004-05)'s 28,53,670 acres to 24,06,327 acres (4.5 lakh acres less), cotton harvest in Andhra Pradesh is expected to touch almost last year's harvest of 35 lakh bales (170 kg each bale). However, T Bhanoji Rao, general manager of the Cotton Corporation of India (CCI), has put the harvest estimate at 30-32 lakh bales.

This year, 78 per cent of the farmers have sown Bt cotton, and with no pest menace and the crop growth being healthy, their hopes are soaring. Heavy rain during October-November unleashes bollworm pests which destroy ripening crop.

As per the Apcot figures, farmers are growing cotton crop in 16,96,857 acres in Telangana, 5,74,582 acres in coastal Andhra and 1,34,888 acres in Rayalaseema districts.

Barring Mahbubnagar and Karimnagar districts, which have seen increased crop acreage, almost in all the districts including the traditionally-strong cotton growing districts such as Krishna, Guntur, Warangal, Khammam, Nalgonda and Adilabad, farmers have shifted to paddy and other food crops after the state received rains aplenty. The acreage in these districts has come down to 30 per cent from 50 per cent.

A spokesman of Apcot said, "Cotton crop acreage in Srikakulam district is 8,125 acres (6,235 acres in 2004-05), in Vizianagaram district 38,860 acres (49,722 acres in 2004-05), in Visakhapatnam district 3,202 acres (6,203 acres), in East Godavari district 18,373 acres (35,035 acres), in West Godavari district 14,310 acres (20,657 acres), in Krishna district 88,232 acres (1,14,188 acres), in Guntur district 3,47,658 acres (4,45,430 acres), in Prakasam 46,910 acres (85,430 acres), and in Nellore 8,912 acres (18,305)."

He said Rayalaseema farmers are cultivating cotton in 82,588 acres as against 1,77,287 acres last year. In Telangana, cotton cultivation has been reported in 35,635 acres in Ranga Reddy district (69,122 acres last year), 22,378 acres in Nizamabad (26,958 acres), 26,487 acres in Medak (34,700 acres), 89,685 acres in Mahbubnagar (74,085 acres), 2,05,277 acres in Nalgonda district (2,43,603 acres), 3,66,918 acres in Warangal district (3,98,947 acres), 2,37,525 acres in Khammam district (2,59,365), 3,31,375 acres in Karimnagar (2,31,443 acres), and 3,81,577 acres in Adilabad (4,62,542 acres).

Bhanoji Rao, who said that crop in about 90,000 acres had been damaged during the recent cyclones, appealed to the farmers to take post-harvest measures before they bring bales to the market yards or the CCI purchase points. He pointed out that excess moisture in cotton had robbed them of remunerative prices during 2004-05 season.

He said 1,320 farmers joined the CCI contract farming programme in 7,500 acres this year (2,800 acres last year), which comprised 1,305 front line demonstrations (FLD) and 15 integrated pest management (IPM) projects. CCI will offer farmers a minimum support price of Rs 2,100 per quintal, the same as that of last year, when auctions first open in Telangana districts in the second week of November, he added.