The Union government plans to double cotton production to 30 quintal per acre by shifting cotton cultivation from disease-infested fields to disease-free cultivatable and irrigated areas within Haryana, Rajasthan, Punjab, Maharashtra, and Telangana.
India’s cotton production declined to 31.6 million bales in 2023-24 from 33.6 million bales in 2022-23. Cotton production in the country has been on a decline in recent years, data from the Textile Ministry shows.
From 37 million bales in 2017-18 production declined to 33.3 million bales in 2018-19. After growing to 36.5 million bales in 2019-20, it again it slipped to 35.2 million bales in 2020-21 and 31.1 million in 2021-22.
In Haryana and Punjab, the area under cotton cultivation declined to 1 million bales in 2022-23 from 2.65 million bales in 2019-20. Similarly, cotton production in Punjab declined to 4.44 lakh bales in 2022-23 from 9.50 lakh bales in 2019-20.
