Area under cotton may decline by more than 10%: Cotton Association of India

MUMBAI: The area under cotton cultivation in India this year may shrink by 10-15% as farmers are expected to shift to soyabean that gives better returns and because of the risk of pink bollworm attack, traders said.

“We think that the area under cotton may decline by more than 10%, declining from 123 lakh acres to 110 lakh acres," said Atul Ganatra, president Cotton Association of India. Some others said the drop from last time could be as much as 15%.

Farmers' returns have declined as cotton productivity and quality were hit by the attack of the pink bollworm pest in Maharashtra, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.


At the same time, soyabean prices have jumped to Rs 3,800 a quintal from Rs 2,800 in the past few months.

Farmers are preferring soyabean as it is more remunerative — production cost is much lower than that of cotton.

Soyabean prices are likely to remain firm in the short term as production in Argentina has declined to 40 million tonnes from 55 million tonnes.

However, Textile Commissioner Kavita Gupta said the fall in area under cotton may not be significant. "There may not be much decline in total production as the area under cotton in other states may compensate for any decline in area in pink bollworm affected states," said Gupta.