Cotton production in punjab is predicted to be the lowest this year. It is estimated that this year production will be just 3.5 lakh bales.
Several reasons for fall
One of the major reason for the fall is said to be attack by pink bollworm and whitefly in cultivation area. Also waterlogging in Fazilka and Muktsar in over 11K hectares that destroyed the crop said Gurwinder Singh, Director Agriculture.
With sharp fall estimation commission agents and officials in the Cotton Corporation of India (CCI) have also complaint about poorer quality. The complaint states that brightness and length of the fibre being less than what has been previously recorded.
“This is the peak time of arrivals, but today, only 80 quintals of cotton arrived in the mandi against 800 quintals a day around this time in the past,” said Rajnish Jain, a commission agent for cotton from Maur.
Gap has widen due the lesser availability of cotton and higher demand.
Resulting, growers are getting a premium price of Rs 8,500 per quintal this year.
It is worth mentioning that in view of it CCI has reportedly not purchased any cotton from the state.
The length of the fibre that was arriving in mandis of the state was averaging between 25-26 mm, as against required long staple fibre length of 27.5-28.5 mm last year, a senior officer in the CCI said.
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