After facing a drought in the major cotton growing region of Marathawada and other surrounding areas since the past four years, good rains in this season is expected to help Maharashtra produce around one crore bales of cotton in the 2016-17 cotton season. This will help Maharashtra dethrone Gujarat as the number one cotton producing state in India.
“Usually, Maharashtra produces around 60-70 lakh bales of cotton. But in the next cotton season, there could be a bumper production because of the good rains,” Pradeep Jain, president, Khandesh Gin/Press Factory Owners Association was quoted as saying by a leading daily.After facing a drought in the major cotton growing region of Marathawada and other surrounding areas since the past four years, good rains in this season is expected to help Maharashtra produce around one crore bales of cotton in the 2016-17 cotton season. This will help Maharashtra dethrone Gujarat as the number one cotton producing state in India.#
According to Jain, Gujarat's cotton production will be around 80-85 lakh bales, due to the delayed monsoons in the state, while the cotton crop has been good in Maharashtra and at the same time, there have not been reports of pest attacks till now.
Cotton Association of India (CAI) has predicted that cotton production for 2016-17 season beginning October 1 would be 336 lakh bales of 170 kg each. This estimate is nearly similar to the projections of 337.75 lakh bales in the ongoing season. However, cotton acreage is likely to dip by about 10 per cent compared to the current year.
Fibre2Fashion News Desk – India