Cotton production expected to decline due to sharp decline in sowing area

06-Nov-2024 01:42 PM

New Delhi. The Union Agriculture Ministry has estimated the domestic production of cotton to decline by about 26 lakh bales from 325.22 lakh bales in the 2023-24 season to 299.26 lakh bales in the 2024-25 season. Each bale of cotton weighs 170 kg. According to official figures, earlier 336.60 lakh bales were produced in the 2022-23 season, 311.18 lakh bales in 2021-22, 352.48 lakh bales in 2020-21 and 360.65 lakh bales in 2019-20. In this way, this is the first time since the 2018-19 season that the domestic production of cotton has come down to below 300 lakh bales. In the 2018-19 season, cotton production was 280.42 lakh bales, whereas in the previous three years the production level was above 300 lakh bales.

In fact, the cotton production area reached around 127 lakh hectares last year, which decreased by about 14 lakh hectares to around 113 lakh hectares during the current year. Surprisingly, the area under cotton cultivation decreased in all the major producing states except Karnataka and Odisha. This includes states like Gujarat, Maharashtra, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Haryana and Punjab. The area under cotton cultivation in Karnataka and Odisha remained the same as last year. A slight increase of 3-4 thousand hectares was recorded in it.

Apart from this, the cotton crop suffered heavy damage due to extremely torrential rains and devastating floods in various parts of the major producing states during August-September. However, this time the attack of pests and diseases on the crop was less and after facing the severe blow of natural calamities, the average yield rate of the crop that survived is showing signs of being better, therefore, a decline of only 26 lakh bales has been estimated in the total production of cotton. The harvesting and preparation of the new crop has already begun.