Telangana has surpassed Gujarat to become the second-biggest state in cotton acreage. As per a SRTEPC report, the state now plans to increase its area under cotton cultivation by another 15-20 lakh acre in the approaching Kharif season. This will take the total cotton area to 75-80 lakh acre.
K Chandrashekar Rao, Chief Minister has urged the Agriculture Department to mobilize the required cotton seeds for the upcoming Kharif season. Generally, farmers use two packets of seeds with 450 grams each in one acre. So, the state requires 1.50-1.60 crore packets in total. Last year, it had experimented with Regulated Cropping System increased cotton acreage to a whopping 60 lakh acre from 46 lakh acre in 2019.
This year, the state has urged its farmers to grow red gram (pigeon pea) in double the area of what was last Kharif. Gujarat was earlier the second-biggest cotton cultivating state, growing cotton in around 56 lakh acre. In 2019, the state grew cotton on 66 lakh acre.
