Decline in cotton area in all major producing districts of Punjab

18-Jul-2024 01:24 PM

Bhatinda. Fearing severe attack of pink bollworm and white fly, farmers of Punjab have drastically reduced cotton production area this year and for the first time its sowing area has come down to below 1 lakh hectare.

It is noteworthy that cotton acreage has been declining in Punjab for the last three-four years. This time cotton has been sown in less area in all the four major producing districts. 

According to the data of the state agriculture department, compared to last year, cotton production area in Punjab during the current year has declined from 92 thousand hectares to 50,341 hectares in Fazilka district, from 40,250 hectares to 22,502 hectares in Mansa district, from 28 thousand hectares to 13 thousand hectares in Bathinda and from 19 thousand hectares to 9830 hectares in Muktsar district.

Cotton is cultivated in four other districts as well but the area is limited there. Malwa division of Punjab has been famous for cotton cultivation. In fact, this time there has been a huge decline in the production area of ​​cotton in Punjab as well as Rajasthan and Haryana because there too the crop suffers heavy losses due to insects and diseases.

The farming community says that cotton cultivation in Punjab is no longer proving to be profitable because the crop is badly affected by insects and diseases and often it becomes difficult for the farmers to recover the cost.

Although the fear of pink bollworm infestation in Punjab was already there, but the Agriculture Department did not make any concrete effort to control it.

When the infestation of the insect increased a lot, then a team of officials and experts was formed to assess the crop loss. In Rajasthan, the danger increased so much that the farmers have started uprooting the cotton plants.