Area under cotton crop to go up by 25 pc, say officials
Archit Watts
Tribune News Service
Muktsar, February 24
This year, the state Agriculture Department has decided to increase the area under cotton crop by 25 per cent. The Cotton Corporation of India (CCI) had started to purchase cotton directly from farmers in 2019-20 crop season at a minimum support price of Rs5,450 per quintal.
Sutantar Kumar Airi, director, Agriculture Department, said, “In 2019-20 crop season, the area brought under the cotton crop was more than what was targeted. This year, we have decided to increase the area under the crop to 5 lakh hectares, that is, by nearly 25 per cent.”
In 2019, some agricultural experts had said it was impossible to reach the revised target of 4 lakh hectares. Initially, the department had fixed a target of 3.2 lakh hectares. “During 2019-20 crop season, a total of 3.92 lakh hectares was brought under the crop in the state,” said Airi.
The department has decided to increase the area under the crop from 72,000 hectares to 1.05 lakh hectares in Muktsar district, this year.
Gurpreet Singh, Agriculture Officer, Muktsar, said in 2015, per hectare yield was just 142 kg, 807 kg in 2016, 868 kg in 2017, 879 kg in 2018 and 897 kg in 2019. “Due to the increasing yield, farmers are returning to cotton cultivation. Further, the crop consumes less water and provides more employment.
