Farmers turn away from cotton, 30 per cent decline in crop area in Hisar, Sirsa, Fatehabad

Deepender Deswal

Hisar, May 31

Many farmers are turning away from cotton in the state, especially in the cotton belt, which comprises the districts of Hisar, Sirsa and Fatehabad. The farmers sowed cotton on 11 lakh acres of land compared to around 16 lakh acres last year.

According to the growers, pink bollworm has been a major reason for them to turn away from the crop. They had suffered losses due to the pink bollworm, white fly and adverse weather conditions over the last three years.

Last year, the farmers had to struggle to get the compensation for the crop damage as the insurance firms had refused to provide service in the cluster 2, which included Hisar. This year, too, there has been no confirmation from the state government on whether the cotton will be insured or not,” said Rajiv Malik, a farm activist.

According to sources in the Agriculture Department, the area under the cotton crop has come down by 30 per cent across the state during the ongoing sowing, kharif season. It is a massive shift in just one crop season. However, agriculture experts say it will be a cause of concern if these farmers — or a major chunk of the farmers — go for paddy as a replacement for the cotton crop. The state government has launched schemes to discourage famers to grow paddy, which is a water guzzler crop.

Sirsa district, which has the highest area under cotton in the state, has 3.1 lakh acres under cotton this season. “Last year, Sirsa had around five lakh acres under cotton. There is a major shift of around 40%,” said an agriculture official.

Similarly, in Fatehabad and Hisar districts, the cotton area has registered a decline of 81,500 acres from previous year’s 1.5 lakh hectare. In Hisar district, the area under the cotton crop has come down from 3.43 lakh acres to 2.93 lakh acres this year.

Mukesh Repaswal, a farmer from Kirtan village, said he opted out of cotton sowing this year after facing consecutive losses for the last three years. “I used to cultivate three acres of land under cotton every year, but, it has become highly unpredictable. I incurred loss of around Rs 20-22,000 per acre. So, I have decided to go for guar this year,” he said. Spurious seed and increasing input costs coupled with low prices in the market had led farmers to shun cotton this year, he added.

“Due to the poor quality of cotton, which has been affected by pink bollworm or untimely rains, the market rate has come down to around Rs 5,000 per quintal. The MSP was fixed at Rs 6,620 for the medium staple and Rs 7,020 per long staple per quintal,” he said.

Karmal Singh, a cotton expert at Chaudhary Charan Singh Haryana Agriculture University, said bajra, guar, moong and paddy were options for the farmers. “Only a small fraction of the farmers are likely to go for paddy as it is sown in dry areas which lack irrigation facilities,” he said. The BT cotton was resistant to American bollworm but not pink bollworm, he added.