Cotton sown in 95,000 ha in Sangareddy district: official
Deficit in rainfall has badly affected cotton yield in the district. “There was 45 % deficit rainfall in the district. Cotton was sown in about 95,000 hectares and the yield has fallen from eight to 10 quintals per acre to three to four quintals per acre,” District Agriculture Officer B. Narasimha Rao said.
“I had sown cotton in 30 acres, including five acres of my own while the remaining is on lease. I had paid a lease amount of Rs. 15,000 per acre. The total investment I made is Rs. 6 lakh whereas I am likely to get only Rs. 2 lakh. I do not know what to do now,” a cotton farmer of from Pottipally in Sadashivapet mandal, R. Shivanandi, told The Hindu. He attributed low yield in cotton to lack of rains and pink boll worm.
There was roughly a 45 per cent deficit rainfall and the rain has been scattered through the season resulting in reducing the cotton yield this has resulted in the yield falling by 50 %, official sources said. “In the past it was only pink boll worm that hit us and we were able to manage to recover our investment though we could not earn enough to cover the amount spent on labour. This year poor rainfall has aggravated our problems,” he commented adding that earlier they used to get eight to 10 quintals per acre whereas it had fell down to two to three quintals per acre this year.
“Farmers used to make two or three plucking from their fields once the harvesting seasons commenced. But this time, they will have to be satisfied with only one plucking as there is no rain. However, the effect of pink boll worm was relatively less,” president of Manjeera Rytu Samakhya Pruthvi Raj explained.

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