Sirsa (Haryana), July 3: The National Highway 9 (NH-10 by old numbering), which connects Delhi to the border town of Fazilka in Punjab, has a lesser-known distinction.
The 403-kilometre-long carriageway, which cuts through four major districts of Haryana — namely, Rohtak, Hisar, Fatehabad and Sirsa — bifurcates the region broadly into two in terms of agricultural practices.
Record cotton sowing The region, known as the cotton belt of Haryana, has assumed significance this year, as there has been a record sowing of cotton, on 6.3 lakh hectares, which is over a quarter more than the 5 lakh ha in the corresponding period last year.
“Farmers in the region were left with limited choice as many areas suffer from water scarcity and hence were not suitable for paddy,” says Chandrabhan, who grows cotton in Buthan Kalan village of Fatehabad district.
While prices of seeds and inputs have gone up significantly, the price that a farmer gets has either stayed at what it was some 15 years ago or come down.
For instance, he says, a quintal of cotton was priced around ₹5,500 in 2001, the best price available to a farmer last year was ₹5,000 per quintal.
High costs Even at a price of ₹ 5,000 per quintal, a tenant farmer sustains losses, he argues.
The best yield of 8 quintal per acre gets him only ₹40,000.
“I wanted to go for it as Bt cotton growing was affecting the productivity of the wheat crop I grow following the cotton harvest,” he says.
The country-wide kharif crop sowing data released by the Agriculture Ministry on June 30 actually shows that of a total area of 6.3 lakh ha under cotton cultivation, less than 1 per cent is growing non-Bt cotton.