With monsoon showers making a return, cotton crop growers in the Marathwada and Vidarbha regions of Maharashtra and the rest of the country are optimistic. Experts feel the country will witness a bumper cotton production at around 400 lakh bales with nearly 120 lakh hectares coming under cotton cultivation.
As K R Kranthi, Director, Central Institute of Cotton Research (CICR) says, except some spots such as Telangana and Mahbubnagar, the crop is good across the country. Normally around 16 lakh hectares in the region comes under the cotton cultivation, yielding an output of 30-32 lakh bales. This time, says Kranthi, it could be in the range of 37-38 lakh bales.
However, higher yields mean fall in prices. On the other hand, around 32 farmers allegedly committed suicide in the Marathwada region in the first week of September alone due to draught situation. China too has stopped importing cotton and therefore even exports are down. Cotton prices are currently low at Rs 4,000 per quintal and in July the stocks were around 183 lakh bales. Even if the domestic consumption is around 250 lakh bales there is still a surplus, said Kranthi.
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