Expanded cotton area in South may help offset decline in North

The cotton acreage has expanded in the South as farmers have brought more area under the natural fibre crop in Telangana, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. Industry stakeholders said the increase in area in the South will help offset the decline in North India, where farmers have sharply reduced the acreages in Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan due to increased incidence of pest attacks, especially the pink bollworm. The area under cotton in Gujarat, too, is expected to drop sharply.

Till July 22, cotton was planted on 102.05 lakh hectares (lh) across the country over 105.66 lh in the same period a year ago. The normal area under cotton is 129 lh. The acreage is trailing on account of lower plantings in Gujarat, Rajasthan, Haryana and Punjab.

In the largest producing State of Gujarat, cotton acreage is lower at 20.98 lh against 25.39 lh in the same period a year ago. In Rajasthan, the acreage is down to 4.94 lh from 7.73 lh last year, while in Punjab farmers, who suffered heavy pest attacks last year have reduced the area by more than half to 1 lh from 2.14 lh. In Haryana, the acreage is down to 4.76 lh from 6.65 lh.

Timely monsoon

In the South, Karnataka has seen area increase to 6.09 lh as of July 22 this year, over 2.44 lh in the same period a year ago. The timely and widespread arrival of monsoon this year has helped farmers plant more area under cotton in Karnataka, which experienced drought across major growing regions last year. Similarly in Telangana, the acreage has increased to 15.22 lh over 14.13 lh a year ago. In Andhra Pradesh, the area has gone up to 1.60 lh from last year’s 1.32 lh.

Maharashtra, which has the largest area under cotton, has seen the acreages rise this year to 39.69 lh over 38.33 lh a year ago.

“The decline in North Indian cotton area is seen being made up in the South” said Ashish Dobhal, CEO, UPL Sustainable Agri Solutions Ltd. UPL, for which North India was a major market for the spraying services, is seen re-orienting its strategies to address the Southern market in the wake of decline in acreages in Punjab and Haryana.

“The sowing has been good with an increase in area in the South and the crop prospects look good in Karnataka, Telangana and in Maharashtra. Good rains over the past two months will enhance the yields this year,” said Ramanuj Das Boob, a sourcing agent for multinationals and domestic companies in Raichur. “The rain is supporting the crop, but not the markets,” Das Boob said as the prices have been on a bearish trend tracking the global trend amidst a muted offtake.

Wake up call

“The significant decline in area under cotton in North zone is a wake up call for the textiles industry, clustered around Ludhiana in Punjab and Bhilwara in Rajasthan,” said Bhagirath Chowdhary, Founder Director of the Jodhpur-based South Asia Biotechnology Centre, which has been running programmes across the key cotton growing regions to tackle the pink bollworm attack in the recent years.

“Except Vidarbha, Telangana and Karnataka, cotton crop across other cotton-growing regions of Andhra Pradesh, Marathawada and Gujarat is under severe moisture stress, stunted and susceptible to pest and diseases. Overall. the cotton production next season is expected to be on the lower side which will further widen the demand-supply gap, badly affecting the textiles industry and the raw cotton exports,” Chowdhary said.