Area Under Cotton Cultivation in Adilabad District May Rise in Kharif

Adilabad: A major increase in the area under cotton cultivation in Adilabad district is anticipated for the Kharif season.

Farmers are showing more interest in the cultivation of cotton and a shift from soya. They have started sowing cotton seeds for the last four days with the onset of rain in the district.

Estimates are that cotton crops would be cultivated on 4.50 lakh acres against the 4.16 lakh acres last year in Adilabad district. There may be a nearly 35,000 acres rise in cotton cultivation in the district.

The area under cotton cultivation is nearly 18 lakh acres in the erstwhile Adilabad district.

Agriculture officials say they were expecting a major rise in the area under cotton cultivation due to shift by farmers from soya cultivation that did not fetch them remunerative price.

After a long wait to get the Rasi 659 variety of cotton seeds, farmers are now preparing to sow these. The farmers insisted on having the Rasi 659 variety.

Adilabad district is popular for cotton cultivation and there are a lot of ginning and pressing units in the Telangana state.

District agriculture officer D Pullaiah said they were expecting a major increase in the area under cotton cultivation for the Kharif in Adilabad district this time.

The central government offered Rs.7,020 as MSP for cotton in 2023. Cotton farmers pinned a lot of hopes on a hike in the MSP this year. The farmers allege that private cotton traders offered prices lower than the MSP offered by the central government.

Forecast is that there will be good rains this monsoon and farmers are hence hopeful of a good yield, unlike last year. Cotton farmers suffered losses due to damage to standing crop due to the rain and floods last year.