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Assured MSPs and development of new short-duration high-yielding varieties have led farmers in Punjab to desert the fibre crop for paddy
Amarjit, aka Honey Singh, has been growing cotton for as long as he can remember. Being at the tail end of the Sirhind Canal’s Bathinda branch, his fields can be irrigated by the Sutlej River waters only after farmers upstream have done with satiating the thirst of their crops. And with no electric tubewell connection either, cotton is what he has always been cultivating at this time of the year.
But in this kharif season, Honey has done the unthinkable: Growing paddy, a crop requiring 6-7 times more water than cotton, on all his five acres. “There’s too much price uncertainty and risk of damage from chitti makkhi (whitefly insect pest) in cotton. Besides, we have lot of spurious seed going around now,” says this farmer from Bhucho Khurd, a village about 10 km from Bathinda town.
Paddy, in contrast, has no such issues, as it is procured by government agencies that also pay an assured minimum support price (MSP). Equally important is the advent of new short-duration, yet high-yielding, varieties. Punjab’s farmers earlier mainly grew Pusa-44, a 160-day paddy whose nursery sowings had to be done by mid-May, followed by transplanting a month later, to enable harvesting before end-October.
“This time, I am planting the PR-121 variety, which matures in 140 days, on four acres. In the remaining one acre, I am trying out PR-126, which takes even less time — 125 days from seed to grain. The paddy yields from these are 30-32 quintal per acre. Although marginally below the 34-35 quintals from Pusa-44, I can transplant them even after June 25, and harvest by mid-October. It gives me enough time to clear the parali (paddy stubble) from the field and sow the next wheat crop well in time before the middle of November,” says Honey, who is in his early forties.
The new short-duration varieties require only 20-21 irrigations, compared to the 31-32 for Pusa-44, as transplanting happens around the time of the southwest monsoon rains. “Paddy needs continuous standing water in the first 50-60 days after transplanting. In this case, the irrigation requirement is lower, because the crop gets much of its water from the monsoon and the fall in temperatures also reduces the evaporation rates,” explains Honey.
Apart from assured MSP-based procurement and short-duration varietal development, there are two other factors making farmers like him switch from cotton to paddy.
The first is irregular supply of canal water. Cotton is planted in Punjab from mid-April to mid-May. “The crop needs good-quality water at the time of sowing, without which there will be no proper germination. This time, the irrigation department started cleaning the canals only in April. So, water could not be released before the last week,” Honey says.
The second factor is the sanctioning of new tubewell connections — over one lakh in just the last year of the previous Shiromani Akali Dal-led government. Honey’s own village has seen nearly 100 of these being installed in the last couple of years, allowing even farmers like him to buy tubewell water for irrigating paddy.
Bathinda, along with the other southwest districts of Mansa, Barnala, Muktsar, Fazilka, Faridkot, Firozpur and Moga, constitute Punjab’s cotton belt. This year, only 2.84 lakh hectare (lh) in the state has been planted with the fibre crop, as against 3.82 lh in 2017, and the Punjab government’s target of 4 lh. Acreages were previously even higher — at 5.03 lh in 2013, 5 lh in 2014 and 4.12 lh in 2015 — before a combination of low prices and whitefly attacks brought these down to 2.52 lh in 2016. There was no widespread whitefly incidence last year, but that has still not helped boost sowings this season.
“The majority of farmers here have replaced cotton with paddy. The cotton area target for our district was 1.40 lh, but we have achieved only 1.10 lh. Restricted supply of canal water during sowing time, sanctioning of large number of new tubewell connections, and introduction of short-duration paddy varieties are the main reasons for farmers deserting cotton,” says Gurditta Singh, chief agriculture officer of Bathinda.
“There is no price or yield stability in cotton. In 2016, the rates for kapas (raw cotton with seeds) were Rs 5,700-6,200 per quintal. Last year, we got Rs 4,200-4,300 for the initial pickings in September and Rs 4,600-4,700 in October. Some of us stocked up hoping to realise better prices, but they barely crossed Rs 5,000-5,100 even in February-March. Yields, too, fluctuate between 8 and 14 quintals per acre, since the crop is prone to damage from pests and unseasonal rains,” points out Jasbir Singh of Burj Mehma village in Bathinda tehsil. The five-acre farmer is among those who have acquired a tubewell connection recently, prompting him to turn fully to paddy.
Rajwinder Singh, a farmer from Raipur village in Mansa district’s Jhunir tehsil, estimates the per-acre cultivation cost of cotton at around Rs 30,000, and for paddy, Rs 17,500. Taking per-acre yields at 12 quintals for the former and 30 quintals for the latter, and corresponding rates of Rs 5,000/quintal and Rs 1,590/quintal (the MSP for last year), the returns work out to more or less the same. But the risks are far less in paddy. “Saanu jhona di vaddia keemat mil rahi hai, te phir kyon assi narma da risk layye (when the returns from paddy are good, why risk growing cotton),” says the 31-year-old, who has replaced cotton with paddy on his entire seven-acre holding.
Darbara Singh of Moola Singhwala village in Mansa tehsil grew only cotton until five years ago. But when Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana began releasing its new short-duration paddy varieties from 2014-15, he gradually reduced his area under cotton. In this kharif season, he is sowing paddy on 25 of his total 26 acres, and cotton on just one acre. Moreover, he has sown his nursery as late as on June 11, and will transplant the seedlings from it only after July 5. “PR-122, PR-124 and PR-126 are a real boon. I plant them after the monsoon rains have arrived, which generates huge groundwater savings. Also, it now enables me to grow a 60-day summer moong (green gram) crop between harvesting of wheat in early-April and paddy nursery sowing,” the 42-year-old points out.
All this may not be good news, though, for the Punjab government, given its focus on weaning farmers away from paddy. “The short-duration varieties are becoming very popular among farmers. The end-result could be that the paddy area, instead of reducing, only increases further,” Jasbir Singh Bains, the state’s director of agriculture, told The Indian Express. Proof of it is cotton, which, in 2007, occupied 6.04 lh area in Punjab. That has since dropped to 2.84 lh, even as paddy acreage has risen from 26.09 lh in 2007 to 29.26 lh in 2017, and may cross 30 lh this year.
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The clause allows companies to employee and sack up to 300 contract employees according to their business needs without giving them compensations.
In a bid to shed its anti-worker tag, the government is planning to do away with the ‘hire and fire’ clause it had introduced in the Industrial Employment (Standing Orders) Act.
The decision was taken after RSS affiliate Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh (BMS) put forward its objections regarding the rule, sources in the Ministry of Labour and Employment said. BMS leaders had recently met BJP president Amit Shah regarding the same. “We were assured that changes in labour laws and reforms would be undertaken only after deliberating with trade unions. The BJP president also promised to strengthen mechanisms to settle issues,” a BMS leader said.
A ministry official said the decision had received support from political quarters. “If we can put together all initiatives, including a possible change to the number of people factories can hire or fire, the ministry will be successful in changing its image from anti-worker to pro-worker,” the official said.
The government had inserted the hire-and-fire clause in the Act through an amendment last year, ostensibly to promote the ease of doing business and reduce the role of middlemen. It had notified fixed-term employment only for apparel sector in February 2017, but it was extended to all sectors in March this year.
The clause allows companies to employee and sack up to 300 contract employees according to their business needs without giving them compensations. It states that a fixed-term employee “shall not be eligible for all statutory benefits available to a permanent workman in his period of employment” and that “no notice of termination shall be necessary in the case of temporary workman”.
The clause was inserted after lobbying by industrial and corporate groups who argued that it would give a big push to the government’s move to introduce ease of doing business. However, critics argued the move would make it easier for companies to lay off workers, which could have a bearing upon job creation in the country.
Job recruiters confirmed there had been mass layoffs of temporary workmen in recent months. “If you ask about bulk firing, we have not recorded such thing in mid or senior level workforce. But there are six to seven instances reported by a couple of textile companies and in gems and jewellery sector, where there were instances of bulk firing (above 100 workers) after March. Most of them were contract labourers and companies cited lack of order and credit crunch. Some bulk firings were also reported in the telecom sector,” a senior official from Naukri.com, a leading online job portal, told Express.
An official of the Gems and Jewellery Export Promotion Council said layoffs mostly “happen at lower level and with low-skilled workforce”. “Mostly they are hired on contract for short period of time (6-8 months), which depends on the order received by the companies. Lower order or poor sales directly impact layoffs,” he said.
The government is also considering others steps to improve its image, which includes better wages for contractual employees. According to sources, the ministry is also keen to introduce some changes in the EPFO and ESIC to make more employees eligible for pensions and provident funds. “The ministry also plans to ensure social security cover and make work environment better,” Labour Minister Santosh Gangwar had said at an International Labour Organization conference last week.
Minister of Commerce and Industry Suresh Prabhu Tuesday released a national strategy for standardization, adding that standardisation helps both domestic businesses and exporters.
Speaking at the 5th National Standards Conclave – Implementing the Indian National Strategy for Standardization, being held in New Delhi on 19-20 June 2018, Suresh Prabhu said standardisation boosts both exports as well as domestic economic growth by enabling realisation of value of product and services and consumers will be the biggest beneficiary.
The Minister said that unless products are standardised it becomes difficult to market them.
Two reports were also released by the Minister, Indian National Strategy for Standardization (INSS) and CII-ASL Study on TBT/SPS Notifications. INSS is the result of the combined efforts of Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Ministry of Consumer Affairs and industry stakeholders.
It provides a vision for the country to achieve the highest quality standards in production and distribution of goods and services in an attempt to reclaim Brand India.
The INSS report addresses four broad pillars of Quality Ecosystem: (i) Standards Development (ii) Conformity Assessment and Accreditation (iii) Technical Regulations and SPS Measures (iv) Awareness and Education.
Commerce Secretary, Rita Teaotia and Joint Secretary, Department of Commerce, Sudhanshu Pandey were also present during this occasion.
The EU’s Circular Economy Package (CEP) has been published in the EU’s Official Journal, meaning the legislation will enter into force at the start of July, 20 days after its publication.
The long-awaited waste legislation was signed off and appeared in the Journal – the EU’s official gazette of record for new legislation – last Thursday (14 June), following the final ratification of the ambitious set of revised waste directives by the EU Council in May, and will now become law on 4 July. The governments of member states will then have 24 months to transpose the directives into national legislation.
The final ratification came a little over a month after MEPs in the European Parliament gave the set of revised waste directives their seal of approval, ratifying the targets agreed upon following the end of three-way discussions known as trilogues between the European Council, Commission and Parliament back in December, which were then approved by EU ambassadors in February this year. The announcement marks the end of a long journey through the institutions since the Juncker Commission put the current legislation forward in 2015, after withdrawing a draft CEP put forward in July 2014 that included a 70 per cent recycling and reuse target for 2030.
The CEP will see new targets set for the recycling of municipal waste, which the EU estimates accounts for between seven and ten per cent of the total waste generated in the EU. Member states will now be expected to reach a recycling rate of 55 per cent by 2025, 60 per cent by 2030 and 65 per cent by 2035.
Recognising the importance of waste management and the circular economy to the EU, the revised text states: ‘Improving the efficiency of resource use and ensuring that waste is valued as a resource can contribute to reducing the Union’s dependence on the import of raw materials and facilitate the transition to more sustainable material management and to a circular economy model.
‘That transition should contribute to the smart, sustainable and inclusive growth goals set out in the Europe 2020 strategy and create important opportunities for local economies and stakeholders, while helping to increase synergies between the circular economy and energy, climate, agriculture, industry and research policies as well as bringing benefits to the environment in terms of greenhouse gas emission savings and to the economy.’
The UK Government, despite its impending departure from the EU, has ratified the new proposals and will work towards the targets set within it. However, the UK currently faces an uphill climb to reach the current target of 50 per cent by 2020.
Shaun Gallagher, Director of Environmental Quality at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), speaking at the Resourcing the Future conference last week (13-14 June), refused to be drawn on whether the UK would be transposing the CEP into UK law in full following Brexit – though he did say this was an opportunity to go further than the requirements contained in the package.
Read more: Five things we learned at Resourcing the Future 2018
Beyond the headline recycling targets, the CEP also includes specific targets for packaging and separate requirements for bio-waste and landfill. EU member states will be expected to achieve stated recycling rates by 2030 for all packaging (70 per cent), plastic (55 per cent), wood (30 per cent), ferrous metals (80 per cent), aluminium (60 per cent), glass (75 per cent) and paper and cardboard (85 per cent).
In addition to this, member states will have until 1 January 2025 to set up separate collections of textiles waste and hazardous waste from households, while they must ensure that bio-waste is either collected separately or recycled at source through home composting, for example, by 31 December 2023.
With regard to landfill, member states will be expected to ensure that all waste suitable for recycling or recovery shall not be sent to landfill by 2030, except for waste for which landfill is the best environmental outcome. On top of that, member states will have to ensure that by 2035, less than 10 per cent of the total amount of municipal waste generated is sent to landfill.
Focus is also placed on extended producer responsibility to ensure that the costs of waste management are shared equitably, with producers that place products onto the EU market contributing to the financial cost of treatment at the end of that product’s life.
The CEP states that ‘extended producer responsibility schemes form an essential part of efficient waste management’, but that these should not impinge on the ‘smooth functioning of the internal market’.
It continues: ‘The general minimum requirements should reduce costs and boost performance, as well as ensure a level playing field, including for small and medium-sized enterprises and e-commerce enterprises… They should also contribute to the incorporation of end-of-life costs into product prices and provide incentives for producers, when designing their products, to take better into account recyclability, reusability, reparability and the presence of hazardous substances. Overall, those requirements should improve the governance and transparency of extended producer responsibility schemes.’
Though a lot of emphasis has been put on recycling, the package is cognisant of the need for member states to move up the waste hierarchy and recognises that ‘waste prevention is the most efficient way to improve resource efficiency and to reduce the environmental impact of waste.’
As such, the text of the package encourages reuse and new business models that reduce waste generation, stating: ‘Member states should facilitate innovative production, business and consumption models that reduce the presence of hazardous substances in materials and products, that encourage the increase of the lifespan of products and that promote reuse including through the establishment and support of re-use and repair networks, such as those run by social economy enterprises, deposit-refund and return-refill schemes and by incentivising remanufacturing, refurbishment and, where appropriate, repurposing of products as well as sharing platforms.’
A whopping $33.5 billion is expected to come from the RMG sector. The second largest target is set for leather and leather goods at just $1.13 billion
The government plans to set a $40 billion goods export target with a 7.14% growth for fiscal year 2018-19, riding largely on the apparel industry’s success, the largest contributor to overall export earnings.
The Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) sent a proposal to the Commerce Ministry for consideration on Tuesday. After a review of the proposal, Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed, will formally announce the export target within a week or two.
In the proposal, the EPB recommended an export target of $40 billion with 7.14% growth. The projected export earnings target is $2.5 billion higher than the outgoing fiscal year’s export target of $37.5 billion.
Of the total amount, $33.5 billion is expected to come from the garments sector. The second largest target is set for leather and leather goods at $1.13 billion.
In a meeting with export industry stakeholders on June 12, the EPB discussed the export target and heard opinions about industrial capacity.
In July-May of the current fiscal year, Bangladesh earned $33.72 billion against a target of $37.5 billion.
In setting the export target, the world economic outlook, policy changes at important export destinations, stakeholder feedback, supply chain capacity, change in exchange rates, and global business trends were taken into consideration.
‘It should be higher’
“Over 82% of our export earnings come from the apparel sector. Bangladesh has enough capacity to meet the export target. We have the confidence of global retailers. But manufacturers are losing their competitive edge due to a rise in production costs,” Exporters Association of Bangladesh (EAB) president Abdus Salam Murshedy told the Dhaka Tribune.
In the proposed budget for FY19, beginning July 2018, “the government has increased corporate tax to 15%, while the tax-at-source returned to 1% from 0.70%. This will have an adverse impact on investment as well as production cost,” said Salam, a former BGMEA president.
If the government reduces the corporate tax and brings down tax-at-source to the previous level to increase competitiveness, Bangladesh will be able to reach the target, said Salam.
On the flip side, experts are saying the target, though higher than that of the previous year’s, is not in line with the development goals of the government.
“This export growth target, which is below 10% and it has been contracted, is unambitious. Our development strategy is driven by exports, but the GDP to export ratio has been falling. What does that signal?” said Policy Research Institute (PRI) Executive Director, Ahsan H Mansur.
“In attaining development goals as well as the GDP target, the export target should be much more ambitious,” he said.
“Present policy towards export-oriented industries, rate of target achievement, and performance is disappointing. This is because of lack of proper policy support to export oriented industries,” said Ahsan.
alance needed’
Export business leaders say they want a comprehensive and balanced export policy to achieve the export target.
“There is a lack of coordination between concerned ministries in setting the export target. The government is not taking necessary steps to remove export barriers,” Md Jashim Uddin, president of Bangladesh Plastic Goods Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BPGMEA), told the Dhaka Tribune.
The government has offered incentives to promote plastic exports but exporters are yet to enjoy the benefits. Due to lack of proper implementation, government incentives and policy support fail to reach the target,” Jasim said.
“We need policy continuity and equal treatment in terms of government incentives to provide space for emerging export industries to grow. If we can ensure this, it will help diversify the export basket,” said Jasim.
In the proposed budget, the government offered 15% corporate tax for the RMG sector while other export-oriented sectors are to pay 35% corporate tax.
To achieve the export target, the government should prioritize the emerging sector and take measures to expand the export basket, according to business people.
An exporter who is in the IT industry said Bangladesh’s export is dominated by the apparel sector, which contributes over 82% to total export earnings.
“This is not a good development strategy. If the sector fails or falls into trouble, the whole economy will suffer,” he said.
“The apparel sector always enjoys the highest government benefits due to their strong lobby, which discourages others and creates an unfair situation,” he said.
Bangladesh needs to concentrate on emerging sectors such as pharmaceuticals, information technology, jute diversified goods, plastic goods, and the leather sector, he added.
More than 2,000 foreign companies from 16 countries and territories have invested around $15.75 trillion in Vietnam’s garment and textile sector so far, according to Vietnam Textile and Apparel Association (VITAS) chairman Vu Duc Giang. South Korea is the biggest investor with its investment exceeding $4.4 billion, followed by Taiwan, Hong Kong and Japan.
Taiwan’s investment is worth $2.5 billion, Hong Kong’s $2.1 billion and Japan’s $789 million, according to a Vietnamese news agency report.
Earlier this year, Japan’s ITOCHU Corporation purchased additional 10 per cent shares of Vietnam National Textile and Garment Group (Vinatex) by investing $47 million, raising its stake to 15 per cent and making it the second-largest stakeholder after the Vietnamese industry and trade ministry.
Other big foreign direct investment projects include the $80-million Nam Dinh Ramatex Textile and Garment Factory by Singapore and the $80-million Ha Nam YKK Factory specialising in zippers and other materials for the garment industry.
Low labour costs and free trade agreements, including the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), have made the Vietnamese garment and textile sector alluring to foreign investors, Giang said.
Once the CPTPP comes into effect, Vietnam can increase shipments to CPTPP member countries, which spend up to $40 billion on garment and textile products annually.
The US department of commerce (USDC) has announced affirmative final determinations in the antidumping duty (AD) investigations of imports of low melt polyester staple fibre (PSF) from two countries. USDC determined that exporters from South Korea and Taiwan sold low melt PSF at dumping margins ranging from 0–16.27 per cent and 49.93 per cent, respectively.
As a result of this decisions, USDC will instruct US Customs and Border Protection (USCBP) to collect cash deposits from importers of low melt PSF from South Korea and Taiwan based on the final rates, as appropriate.
In 2017, US imports of low melt PSF from South Korea and Taiwan were valued at an estimated $75.5 million and $26.9 million, respectively.
The petitions were filed by Nan Ya Plastics Corporation, America (SC).
Meanwhile, the US International Trade Commission (ITC) is conducting investigations to determine whether or not the domestic industry is materially injured, or threatened with material injury, by imports of low melt PSF from Korea and Taiwan. The ITC is currently scheduled to make its final injury determinations on or before August 1, 2018.
If the ITC makes affirmative final injury determinations, USDC will issue AD orders. If the ITC makes negative final determinations of injury, the investigations will be terminated, and no orders will be issued.
In the global cotton market, India stands to be a winner amid escalating trade tensions between the U.S., the world’s top exporter, and China, the biggest buyer.
The weak rupee makes India’s exports more appealing, and freight costs to the neighboring Asian country can be relatively cheap, Keith Brown, the president of Keith Brown & Co., a brokerage in Moultrie, Georgia, said in a telephone interview. “It’s a question of price and proximity,” he said.
“China will still get cotton from the U.S.” possibly indirectly, he said. Mills may obtain some cargoes via Vietnam, or buy American supplies including a tariff, he said.
Cotton on Tuesday tumbled by the exchange limit on ICE Futures U.S. in New York and has slumped 12 percent from a four-year high of 94.82 cents a pound on June 6. China has bought almost 1.5 million bales from the U.S. this season, “and traders are now concerned about cancellation of those sales,” Louis Rose, director of research and analysis at Rose Commodity Group in Memphis, Tennessee, said in a report. A bale weighs 480 pounds, or 218 kilograms.
The Cotton Association of India said last week that output this season will rise 8.3 percent from a year earlier, boosting exports. China’s inventories have dwindled from a record in 2015 amid a decline in acreage. The government plans to issue additional import quotas because adverse weather damaged the domestic crop, and a shortfall of high-quality fiber looms.
In the U.S., cotton futures rose as much as 21 percent this year as a drought eroded crop prospects in West Texas, the top producing region.
“We went up way too fast, and now we are coming down way too fast,” Brown said.
Futures for December delivery fell 3.95 cents, or 4.5 percent, to close at 83.82 cents a pound on Tuesday after tumbling by the limit of 4 cents.
Rupee depreciation fuels demand further as currency slips below 68 to the dollar
Cotton yarn prices have jumped a little over 10 per cent in two weeks, due to a sharp increase in demand from markets abroad, following rupee depreciation.
Along with yarn, there has been an increase in orders for Indian cotton from China , following a build-up in its trade war with the US. In a retaliatory measure, China has imposed 25 per cent duty on import of cotton from the US and is meeting its demand by sourcing more from India.
As of Tuesday, the benchmark 40-count of cotton yarn was trading at Rs 240 a kg, up from Rs 215-218 earlier this month. The rupee depreciated by nearly one per cent to below 68 a dollar during this period, from Rs 67.41 earlier this month. During the past few months, the rupee has fallen by nearly five per cent.
The sharp increase in yarn prices has revived sentiment in the spinning sector in this ongoing lean season. As a rule, demand for cotton yarn is lacklustre for about five months starting from the summer vacation.
“The surge in yarn prices is backed by a sudden spurt in demand from importing countries, including China and Bangladesh. Depreciation in the rupee has helped exporters contract more orders and execute past ones at better margins,” said Ashok Patel, managing director, Angel Fibers, a Rajkot-based yarn maker.
China has contracted to import 500,000 bales (one bale = 170 kg) of cotton from India, after raising tariffs on import from the US. The new orders are in addition to the regular ones. China produces nearly 32 million bales of cotton annually, against its consumption of 45 mn bales. India exported nearly a million bales to China last year.
As a result, our overall cotton export is likely to rise 21 per cent to seven million bales for the cotton year ending this September, from 5.8 mn bales the previous year.
The price of the benchmark Shankar-6 variety of cotton has risen by 6.5 per cent in June so far, to Rs 13,160 a quintal from Rs 12,373 a qtl. In the course of a month, the price has risen 12 per cent.
Cultivation of genetically modified cotton has fallen in North Karnataka owing to a variety of reasons and is making way for other commercial and food crops.
While, discouraged by the low yield and fall in the market rate for Bt cotton, several farmers have switched to other crops, some have even been driven to suicide owing to the loss they have suffered from cotton culti vation, which is labour-intensive and susceptible to pests.
Haveri district, which had the highest production of genetically modified crop in the state 4 years ago, has seen its cultivation fall by 50 %. In the past cotton covered 1.12 lakh hectares of the 3.22 lakh hectares under agriculture in the district. But with farmers jostling for Bt cotton seeds that were in short supply and forced to buy fertilisers at a higher rate from the black market in times of heavy rainfall, the cultivation of Bt cotton has now fallen by half in the district despite the good monsoon this year.
“We once cultivated Bt cotton on 20 of the 75 acres owned by our family. But now we have switched to soybean, maize and groundnuts, which are short duration crops.
Moreover, we cannot get fodder for our cattle by producing Bt cotton. Its yield has reduced drastically and the cost of labour is high. The price of cotton has also fallen to nearly half of what it was a few years ago”, said Mr Nagaraj Baseganni, a farmer from Agadi village in Haveri taluk. Haveri joint director of agriculture , V Sadashiv blames the fall in cotton cultivation to uncertain climatic conditions as the crop requires both dry and wet weather. “The fluctuation in the market rate owing to the export and import policy has prompted the farmers to switch to other crops,” he explained.
