Cotton acreage may increase by 25%

Total cultivation area this year likely to reach 23 lakh hectares.

Sowing of cotton is almost over in Gujarat, one of the major coton producing states of India. More than 80 per cent of cultivation is over.

The area under cultivation for cotton this year in Gujarat is likely to be 23 lakh hectares out of which 14 lakh hectares of land is being sown with BT cotton.

On the other hand, experts and industry sources say that 25 per cent increase in cotton area is expected across the country during 2007-08.

According to the Gujarat government and state-based major cotton traders, sowing of cotton is nearing completion as far as BT cotton is concerned, however, 5 lakh hectares of staple cotton will be sown in August.

Talking to Business Standard, Arun Dalal, an Ahmedabad based cotton trader said,"Till now around 16 to 17 lakh hectares have been already sown with desi and BT cotton, out of which the BT cotton area is likely to touch 14 lakh hectares. While another 5 lakh hectares will be sown with staple cotton and the sowing will start in August."

This figures are in sync with the government projections for this season. The projections for Kharif 2007-08 says that the total cotton area will be 23 lakh hectares, cultivation area for food grain will be 41.65 lakh hectares, while the area under cultivation for oil seeds will be 31.92 lakh hectares, total tobacco area is projected to be 74,000 hectares and sugarcane area is 1.70 lakh hectares.

The state government has projected a 30.2 per cent productivity growth in cotton crop while 17 per cent growth rate is projected in Oil seeds production and 8.4 per cent growth rate in its productivity.

The cotton cultivation area in the state is increasing every year. As per the government figures, the area under cultivation for cotton was 16.75 lakh hectares in 2002-03 which to increased to 21.00 lakh ha 2006-07 and this year it is likely to touch 23 lakh hectares.

Talking to Business Standard, R K Sinha, executive director, All India Crop Biotechnology Association, said, "The country's cotton area is growing at the rate of 22 to 25 per cent and the growth will be sustained this year too."

As per the National Seed Association of India the officially approved BT cotton hybrid area was 50,000 hectares in 2002 which doubled to 100,000 hectares in 2003.

The BT cotton area increased four-fold in 2004 to reach over half a million hectares. In 2005, the area planted with BT cotton continued to climb, reaching 1.3 million hectares, an increase of 160 per cent over 2004.

"In 2006, the record increases continued with almost a tripling of area of BT cotton, from 1.3 million hectares to 3.8 million hectares. In 2006, this tripling in area was the highest year-on-year growth for any country in the world. Of the 6.3 million hectares of hybrid cotton in India in 2006, which represents 70 per cent of all the cotton area in India, 60 per cent or 3.8 million hectares was BT cotton," Sinha said. He added that he expects 25 per cent growth in the cultivation area of Cotton during 2007-08.

Traders expect that this year the picture of cotton production will clear up and the difference between opening stock and closing stock will decrease.

Dalal said,"There used to be a wide difference between opening stock and the closing stock for cotton and this year this gap is likely to decrease as the carry forward stock is less and the demand is high."

He also said that the government should pay extra attention to the quality control on cotton seeds as this will enhance productivity.