Punjab: Area under cotton to dip 60k hectares

Farmers are likely to switch over to guar crop,a state government official said today.

The area under cotton in Punjab is likely to go down by 60,000 hectares in the coming kharif season,with farmers likely to switch over to guar crop,a state government official said today.

The area under cotton in the state is expected to be 5 lakh hectares this year (coming kharif season) as compared to 5.6 lakh hectares for the previous year,as some of the area was likely to be shifted to guar crop which was fetching good price in the market,Punjab,Financial Commissioner (Development) G S Sandhu said in a meeting with Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal here today.

There should not be black marketing of Bt cotton seeds during the sowing season from April to May,Badal said in the meeting.

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It was also decided in the meeting that there would be no increase in the rates of Bt cotton seeds during the current year despite BT cotton seed companies demanding steep hike in the rates.

The Chief Minister categorically said that the rates prevalent during the previous year would continue this year as well.

Against a demand of 25 lakh packets of Bt Cotton seed,26 seed companies have assured a supply of more than 35 lakh packets of Bt cotton seed.

Therefore,it was felt that there would be no shortage of Bt cotton seeds required for the forthcoming cotton crop.

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It was further decided that to ensure proper and fair distribution of cotton seeds,the Punjab Markfed — a marketing federation of over 3,000 societies — would distribute 9 lakh packets to the farmers through the co-operatives societies as well as open sale.

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