Acreage rises for cotton, shrinks for paddy

As kharif sowing begin in irrigated belts of India, farmers are changing the sowing pattern depending on the remunerative prices they got in the previous year. Cotton prices, which touched a 140-year high this season, is expected to see an increase in acreage in prime growing states of Gujarat and Maharshtra. Across Punjab and Haryana, where more than 90% of the sowing has been completed, farmers have moved from paddy cultivation to cotton this year owing to better returns this season. In Punjab, the acreage increased by 87,000 hectares, touching 5.70 lakh hectares.

Similarly in Haryana, the cotton acreage is expected to have increased by 20% at 6 lakh hectares. The production is expected to touch 25.44 lakh bales, compared to 17.44 lakh bales during the 2010-11 marketing season. Cotton Association of India president Dhiren N Seth said that cotton acreage in the country was likely to increase by 10% to 15% in 2011-12 season with farmers moving from sowing soyabean, groundnut and rice. In 2010-11 , area under cotton was 11.16 million hectares. In Maharashtra, where sowing is yet to begin, cotton acreage is expected to see a 10% increase to 43.50 lakh hectare with production targeted to increase by 24 5 lakh bales at 95.96 lakh bales (one bale=170 kg). Farmers in Gujarat are likely to move from oil seeds and groundnut to cotton this season . State agriculture officers have targeted to cover over 26 lakh hectares under cotton with a production of over 105 lakh bales this season.

In Rajasthan , the cotton acreage has seen a jump from 3.35 lakh hectares to 3.80 lakh hectares . With the start of the South-West monsoon in June, paddy nursery sowing has started across India. According to the agriculture ministry's third advance estimate, rice production in the kharif 2010-11 season is expected at 80.38 million tonne, while the total output in the 2010-11 season is expected at 94.11 million tonne. Industry watchers feel that the acreage under paddy across India is likely to increase by 10% to 15% this year. Timely onset of monsoon has been a mixed blessing for the paddy cultivators in Kerala.

In low-lying Kuttanad region, almost 500 hectares of freshly sown paddy was totally flooded. But in Palakkad , the timely arrival of rains is expected to benefit the paddy crop. The district has the largest area of about 55,000 hectares in the state where total acreage under paddy is 2.34 lakh hectare. "Sowing of paddy in West Bengal is yet to set in as there has been not much rain in the state till date. However, we arehoping that rains will take off in another 4-5 days after which kharif sowing will begin ," said Palas Das, one of the leading paddy growers in the state. Area under paddy is expected to touch 58.3 lakh hectare in West Bengal .

The Uttar Pradesh agriculture director Mukesh Gautam said that they have targetted sowing of paddy on 59.60 lakh hectares and a production of 135 lakh tonne this year. Last year, the state produced 119.40 lakh tonne rice and it is estimated to increase by 16 lakh tonne on favourable weather conditions. However, in Punjab and Haryana , where water availability is a major concern, the paddy acreage is expected to reduce this year. The Punjab agriculture department has projected that the area under paddy may drop to 27.50 lakh hectares from 28.31 lakh hectares in 2010-11 . Similarly in Haryana, area under paddy is expected to be 12 lakh hectares from 12.45 lakh hectares last year. According to the Indian Maize Development Association president Sain Dass, maize, which is largely cultivated in the raid-fed areas, is waiting for a good monsoon . "Since good rainfall has been predicted, the production should be higher than the previous year's . In the last few years, about 1 million hectares have been added ," he said.

The production touched 20 million tonne last year. In Karnataka, maize will be sown on 12.7 lakh hectares, in Andhra Pradesh on 6.8 lakh hectares and in Tamil Nadu on 2.5 lakh hectares. In Uttar Pradesh, maize acreage is aimed at 8.14 lakh hectares and the production is expected to hit 14.55 lakh tonne. In Maharashtra, area is expected to increase by 5% at 7.65 lakh hectares and a production of 22.57 lakh tonne is expected. Soyabean acreage is expected to decline by over 4% at 25.30 lakh hectare in 2011-12 with production seeing a mere 2% fall at 39.22 lakh tonne. "Soyabean acreage will go up by 50,000 hectare in Madhya Pradesh, though acreage may decline in Maharashtra. We expect the acreage to increase in south India," said Rajesh Agarwal , spokesperson of the Soyabean Processors Association of India. Also, acreage of guar is expected to shrunk from 30.01 lakh hectares to 27 lakh hectares in Rajasthan .

The production is estimated at 10.8 lakh tonne – down by around 5 lakh tonne from the last year's actual production. The targeted acreage for bajra in Rajasthan is likely to be 50 lakh hectares as against 54.89 lakh hectares last year. Last year, there was a bumper production of bajra with a total output of 60 lakh tonne as against the average production of 32.39 lakh tonne. This year, the targetted production is kept at 45 lakh tonne. Similarly, bajra acreage in Uttar Pradesh is targetted to be at 9.50 lakh hectares and the production is aimed at 16.80 lakh tonne. Gautam said that total kharif sowing in Uttar Pradesh would be on about 87.62 lakh hectares compared to 83 lakh hectares last year.

A similar trend is also to be seen in Maharashtra where jowar and bajra acreage is expected to fall by 10% at 18.66 lkah hectares and the prodcution by 5.3% at 23.78 lakh tonne. The targetted area under cultivation for oilseeds in Rajasthan is expected to decline. As against last year's acreage of 29.05 lakh hectares, this year's target has been set at 26 lakh hectare.