Signs of decline in cotton sowing area

29-Jul-2025 08:40 PM

New Delhi. This time too, there are signs of decreasing interest of farmers in cotton cultivation. Its production area increased to 127 lakh hectares in the year 2023, which decreased by about 14 lakh hectares in 2024 to around 113 lakh hectares.

In the current Kharif season of 2025, till July 25, its sowing area has reached 103.15 lakh hectares at the national level, which is 2.35 lakh hectares less than the area of 105.50 lakh hectares in the same period last year. In the most prominent producing state- Gujarat, its area fell from 23.15 lakh hectares to 20.17 lakh hectares.

On the other hand, its production area has increased from 6.40 lakh hectares to 7.50 lakh hectares in Karnataka and jumped from 5.03 lakh hectares to 6.28 lakh hectares in Rajasthan.

In Andhra Pradesh, its sowing area improved from 1.86 lakh hectares to 2.42 lakh hectares till July 23 and in Telangana it increased from 39.81 lakh acres to 42 lakh acres. But in Maharashtra, the cotton production area decreased from 39.84 lakh hectares last year to 37.44 lakh hectares this time till July 21.

Cotton sowing is being estimated to be almost normal in other major cotton producing states of Madhya Pradesh, Haryana, Punjab, Tamil Nadu and Odisha. Gujarat and Maharashtra are the two top cotton producing states of the country.

The government has increased the minimum support price of cotton by Rs 589 per quintal. As a result, the support price of medium fiber cotton has increased from Rs 7121 per quintal to Rs 7710 per quintal and the support price of long fiber category has increased from Rs 7521 per quintal to Rs 8110 per quintal.