Higher yield in Central and Southern parts set to boost India’s 2024-25 cotton crop, says CICR

The Indian cotton crop for the 2024-25 season is expected to be bigger than the initial estimates on higher yields in the key growing regions of central and southern parts of the country.

The Nagpur-based ICAR-Central Institute of Cotton Research (CICR), the apex research body for the fibre crop, estimates that the crop for the 2024-25 season to September could touch 320 lakh bales (170 kg each), higher than the initial estimates that ranged from 299.36-304 lakh bales. In 2023-24, India produced 325.22 lakh bales.

“Crop estimate already revised up by 5 lakh bales but our ground reports say that it will still be higher due to good yields in central and southern states. We expect it to be about 320 lakh bales,” Y G Prasad, Director, CICR, told businessline. Many districts of Maharashtra, Telangana and Karnataka are driving the increase in production this year, he said.

Better crop management

“Well distributed rainfall coupled with fewer extreme rainfall events in mid-to-late crop season this year, when compared with the previous season, lower incidence of pink bollworm infestation and better crop management by farmers have contributed to higher yields this year,” Prasad said. This is despite the damages caused by excess rains in parts of Maharashtra and Gujarat.

Prasad said the incidence of pink bollworm had come down drastically this year. “The pest incidence is less than 10 per cent up to December.” Increasing farmer awareness, timely management, shifts in the rainfall pattern and early harvest in the previous year have contributed to the lower incidence of the pink bollworm (PBW),” he said.

Early harvest

The crop harvest was early last year in view of drought. The crop’s lifecycle could not be prolonged in many areas. This helped break the life cycle in PBW. The extended crop gives the inoculum load for next season, which we have clearly in the North Zone, he said.

The Committee on Cotton Production and Consumption (COCPC) estimated the production at 299.26 lakh bales for 2024-25, down from 325.22 lakh bales in the previous season. The cotton acreage was 13.60 lakh hectares during the 2024-25 kharif season, down from 126.88 lakh hectares the previous year.

The Cotton Association of India, the apex trade body for the sector, raised its crop estimates up by 2 lakh bales recently to 304.25 on account of higher than expected output in Telangana. CAI has estimated consumption to be higher by two lakh bales for the year.