Cultivation of cotton drops in Telangana

Hyderabad: Cotton cultivation has dropped by nearly 5 lakh hectares this kharif in Telangana state compared to the past two years.

This is mainly due to the government’s advice to farmers not to take up the risky “white gold” and go for pulses, soya bean and other crops in view of India signing the WTO resolution to remove export subsidies on cotton by January next, risky returns and natural calamities.

Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao, principal secretary, agriculture C. Parthasarathy and other agri officials launched a sustained campaign against cotton cultivation in view of pitfalls and risks.

Thanks to the fairly good monsoon, barring a fortnight’s dry spell, the total area sown under all crops touched 85 per cent. As against the normal area of 43.43 lakh hectares, the area sown is 37.06 lakh ha till date.

According to TS agriculture department, the total area under cotton dropped to 12.30 lakh ha as against the normal kharif season of 17.09 lakh ha, a drop of 4.79 lakh hectares. Reports say that the total area will come down by 5 lakh hectares. Cotton area in 2014 was 16.36 lakh ha and in 2015 it was 16.78 lakh ha.

“There is a drop in nearly 5 lakh hectares this season due to sustained campaign on the risk of cultivating cotton. This is the first time farmers took the advice seriously due to intervention by the Chief Minister and campaign by agriculture department. It’s a big achievement,” Mr Parthasarathy said.

Besides the risk in returns, cotton crop is now hit by pink bollworm in Nizamabad, Nalgonda, Khammam, Warangal, Adilabad and other districts for the first time in the state.