The Hindu Business Line : Spurt in area under Surabi cotton

HAVE cotton farmers started to raise the variety/hybrid in conformity with the mill (consuming industry) requirement? Have they entered into a buyback arrangement with the consuming sector?

Though the signals are obvious nothing concrete has emerged as yet. What is visible, however, is the sudden spurt in the area under `Surabi' cotton in the summer cotton tracts of the State this season.

From just about 4,500-5,000 acres under this extra long staple fibre, the area has, according to the Project Coordinator and Head, Central Institute for Cotton Research (CICR), Coimbatore Station, Dr T.P. Rajendran, shot up to 38,000 acres during the current season.

Another variety that had caught the attention has been the MCU (VT). The area under MCU is marginally lower than Surabi at 37,000 acres. Other varieties and hybrids occupied a total area of 12,000 acres, observed the CICR Project Coordinator.

Despite the phenomenal increase in the area under these specific varieties - Surabi and MCU - the overall area under cotton continued to hover around the same level as in the earlier years. The obvious development was in taking to cultivation of a single variety - "the one variety one village concept" - and this is a welcome sign, Dr Rajendran added.

He said that there was enormous potential for increasing the area under Surabi in Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh. ``In Maharashtra, the cultivation of Surabi has been taken up on trial basis in 100 acres," he said.

Meanwhile, leading textile houses in this part of the country admit that they have been trying to tie up with farmers for supply of `clean cotton'. An industry source said that it was a `win-win' situation for both - the growers and the industry. ``The procurement is without much of a hassle. For the grower, the buy-back is assured," the source said.

Seed producing companies concede that the demand for the Surabi and MCU (VT) seeds were unusually high this season. ``We had adequate quantities of the seed. Else it would resulted in a near mess,' a leading seed producer said.

Apart from Tamil Nadu, it is reliably learnt that the cotton growers in Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra had lifted good volumes of the Surabi seed.

More Stories on : Cotton | Cultivation | Tamil Nadu

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