Cotton growers may face seed shortage as they prepare to expand acreage
Industry confident of supplies, but experts say issue about availability of seeds of 3-4 firms that account for 50% of market
Supply of cottonseeds might become tight in the coming kharif season if farmers decide to expand the area under the fibre crop going by the high price that prevailed during the current season to September. Cottonseed production and quality were affected last year due to excessive rains in the key producing State of Telangana and some parts of Tamil Nadu.
“Due to continuous rains last year, there was lot of damage to seed production in Telangana and Tamil Nadu. In Telangana, the largest producer of cottonseeds, production dropped 20-25 per cent. As a result, there may be a tight supply situation this kharif season if the demand goes up,” said M Ramaswami, Founder, Rasi Seeds, the largest player in the segment.
CIS tops the list of India’s tea exports
No shipment to pakistan at all
Tea Board has now released the export data up to January for the fiscal 2020-21 which shows a decline in terms of both the volume shipped and the value earned compared to 2019-20.
In the fiscal 2020-21 up to January, India’s export price rose to an average of ₹ 259.22 a kg from ₹ 228.02 for the same period in the previous fiscal.
Puducherry, Telangana, Punjab top in fertilizer consumption
Notwithstanding its small size and population compared to other States and UTs, Puducherry tops the chart in consumption of major fertilizers from 2015-16 to 2019-20 (in kg/hectare) followed by Telangana and Punjab. Interestingly Bihar is in a neck-to-neck competition with Haryana in the use of fertilizers.
Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal and Karnataka are also among the top 10 States using fertilizers.
