The sowing of cotton in states of Punjab and Haryana have been completed and the cotton area has declined by 27% to 7.56 lakh hectares in the 2016-17 crop year as compared to 10.3 lakh hectares of cotton planted by these two states in the 2015-16 crop year (July-June). The total area is down as farmers were scared to grow cotton fearing whitefly pest attack that had damaged the crop massively in these two states last year.
The area planted to cotton in Punjab is lower by 43.11% and stood at 2.56 lakh hectares in the 2016-17 crop year from 4.5 lakh hectare in the previous year. Similarly, cotton area coverage in Haryana fell by 14% to 5 lakh hectares this year as against 5.8 lakh hectares in 2015-16.
Further, even in Uttar Pradesh, the cotton acreage is down 19% at 0.17 lakh hectares as against 0.21 lakh hectares in the said period.