Archit Watts
Tribune News Service
Muktsar, May 9
Though cotton sowing is best for crop diversification in this region, the area under this cash crop is set to decrease this season. Reason: Delay in releasing water in irrigation channels.
Agriculture Department officials said the area under cotton crop was nearly 70,000 hectares last year in the district. “The target to bring area under cotton is almost same this year as well. However, as water is released late in irrigation channels, cotton growers may switch to paddy/basmati this year. Even basmati fetched good prices last year,” said Baljinder Singh Brar, Chief Agriculture Officer, Muktsar.
He added, “Cotton sowing started in mid April, which is ideal till the mid of this month. However, it lasts till May 31. But late sowing of cotton causes loss to farmers as the crop is prone to pest attack in monsoon.”
The state government had tried hard in the past to increase the area under cotton crop after whitefly attack and spurious BT cotton seed scam had surfaced in this region. However, if the area shrinks due to delay in releasing water, the money spent in the past and efforts will go waste.
A visit to some parts of the district revealed that cotton sowing is yet to gather pace. Some cotton growers said water reached their fields in April end and that too not at full intensity.
A cotton grower said, “We will sow basmati this year as water was not available during the ideal period to sow cotton. Further, the prices of basmati remained good last year. A number of farmers have decided to sow paddy instead of cotton this season. The area under cotton crop will decrease sharply. If the state government is serious towards crop diversification, it should have held a joint meeting of the Agriculture and Irrigation Department in mid of April.”
Some farmers said the situation was almost same in neighbouring Fazilka district.
from The Tribune https://ift.tt/2K8G89q
No comments:
Post a Comment