Cotton acreage set to increase in Gujarat – expert

01 Jul '10

2 min read

Cotton sowing activities have picked up in the state of Gujarat, which is considered the cotton bowl of India, helped by pre-monsoon rains in various parts of the state. Gujarat has the distinction of being the biggest cotton exporter state of India.

Cotton experts are of the opinion that, cotton acreage may increase in the 2010-11 cotton season, due to the high cotton prices that have prevailed, ever since the 2009-10 cotton season began and which have shot up buy 25-30 percent since January 2010.

Mr Arun Dalal, a reputed cotton trader of Gujarat, who spoke to fibre2fashion, said, “Due to the increase in the prices of cotton, area under cotton is expected to increase from 2.5 million hectares in the previous cotton season to 2.8 million hectares in the new season”.

“He added by saying, “Farmers are getting jittery over the fact that it has not started raining yet, but actually the rainy season begins in June end or beginning of July. But if rains do not fall within a week then there are chances that seeds will be spoilt due to hot weather”.

“In Maharashtra and Gujarat, sowing of Bt cotton is increasing day by day. There are atleast 250 varieties of Bt cotton seeds but the duplicate seeds are also mixed and so we don't get the required results, because of which the yield will be lower”, he concluded by saying.

Fibre2fashion News Desk - India

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