Indian Punjab saw it per acre yield surge at a time when cotton yield is declining in India as despite dip in cultivation area its cotton output surged to 59500 ton in 2023-24 from 46740 ton in previous year
Even as the area under cotton has decreased by 80,000 hectares compared to the previous year, Punjab has recorded significant gains in yield per hectare. Punjab is among the three states of the north zone where cotton is cultivated. The other two are Haryana and Rajasthan. The Cotton Association of India (CAI) and the Office of the Textile Commissioner under the Union Ministry of Textiles, in their data revealed that Punjab’s cotton production stands at 59,500 tonnes (equivalent to 3.50 lakh pressed cotton bales) as of March 31, 2024.
The latest report from the CAI suggests that Punjab’s cotton production is poised to rise further. Given Punjab’s cotton season spanning from October to September, cotton arrivals in the mandis continue throughout the year. The Office of the Textile Commissioner estimates Punjab’s total production to reach 4.89 lakh bales by the end of this season, compared to around 4.44 lakh bales last year. Punjab’s cotton cultivation area this year stood at approximately 1.69 lakh hectares, marking an all-time low in over six decades. Despite this, the yield per hectare in Punjab reached around 491.89 kilograms, equivalent to approximately 4.92 quintals per hectare.
Last year, Punjab cultivated cotton on 2.49 lakh hectares, an 80,000-hectare difference from this season. However, due to one of the lowest yields recorded in the past decade, the state’s cotton production was significantly lower, with only 314.06 kg of cotton per hectare.
