The land allotted to cotton cultivation in India has increased this year compared to 2016. Farmers who have basic irrigational access harvest about 12 to 15 quintals per acre, depending upon the availability of drip irrigation. Cotton is relatively harder than soybean, which can be washed off in heavy rainfall. It can also be picked four to five times despite rains and at least twice if the weather isn’t favorable.

Cotton is sowed after the second week of June, with the first harvest or picking taking place 120 days post sowing, in its 175 to 180 day span. Farmers generally have to bear the cost of picking which comes at Rs 6000 per acre. Pesticides like Confidor, Actara and Polo amount to Rs 4000 an acre, excluding the Rs 200 labor on each round of spraying the chemical. Other expenses include weeding, fertilizer, and seeding.

This year the best among the crop choices left for a farmer which yield better returns in the kharif season was cotton. Farmers require immediate compensation for picking the cotton and using pesticides. Traders themselves came to buy the kapas (raw unginned cotton) straight from farmers at Rs 5600 per quintal this February compared with Rs 4000 in the previous year.