Lok Sabha Question No. 1436 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2025-12-09
Subject: Annual Cotton Production Capacity
Ministry: AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE
Asked by: Shri Omprakash Bhupalsinh Alias Pavan Rajenimbalkar

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1436

TO BE ANSWERED ON THE 09 TH  DECEMBER, 2025

## ANNUAL COTTON PRODUCTION CAPACITY

1436. SHRI OMPRAKASH BHUPALSINH ALIAS PAVAN RAJENIMBALKAR: Will the Minister of AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE कृ ͪष एवं ͩकसान कãयाण मंğी be pleased to state:

- (a) the details of annual cotton production capacity in the country, State-wise including Maharashtra;
- (b) the effective steps taken by the Government to uplift cotton farmers in the last five years;
- (c) the details  of  funds  released  to  Maharashtra for cotton-specific  projects  under  the National Food Security Mission (NFSM) in the last five years and the current year;
- (d) the details of clusters, specifically in Maharashtra, where the High Density Planting System  (HDPS)  and  Closer  Spacing  Planting  System  for  cotton  have  been  successfully implemented; and
- (e) whether  the  Government  has  conducted  assessment  of  the  specific  project  to evaluate the improvement in cotton productivity through project interventions and if so, the details thereof?

## ANSWER

THE MINISTER OF STATE FOR AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE कृ ͪष एवं ͩकसान कãयाण राÏय मंğी (SHRI RAMNATH THAKUR)

- (a): The details  of  cotton  production  in  the  country  during  last  5  years  i.e.  2020-21  to 2024-25, State-wise including Maharashtra, are given at Annexure .
- (b):      In last five years, the Government of India has undertaken following steps to uplift cotton farmers:
- i. During  2023-24  and  2024-25,  a  Special  Project  on  Cotton  was  implemented  for large-scale  demonstrations  of  best  practices  to  enhance  cotton  productivity  under  the Central  Scheme  of  National  Food  Security  and  Nutrition  Mission  (NFSNM)(erstwhile NFSM). The project has been extended for the third year 2025-26 to a target area of 14800 ha  in  60  districts  across  8  major  cotton-growing  states.  For  the  dissemination  of  cotton technologies in rural and backward areas, under the Special Project on Cotton, a total of 503 trainings (from the year 2023 to 2025) were organized, benefiting 36,319 farmers with High Density Planting System (HDPS), closer spacing technologies and ELS (Extra Long Staple) cotton technologies.
- ii. Since  2018,  a  centrally  sponsored Insect  Resistance  Management  -  Pink  Boll Worm project is being carried out in collaboration with 10 State Agricultural Universities in 105 villages across 21 districts in 10 major cotton-growing states (1050 acres annually) to control pink boll-worm infestation.
- iii. Additionally,  Front  Line  Demonstrations  (FLD)  are  taken  up  in  three  forms  i.e. Integrated Crop Management, Desi/ELS cotton/Seed Cotton production, and intercropping in  cotton  in  11  cotton  growing  states.    During  2024-25,  302  SC/ST  farmers,  519  OBC farmers and 134 farmwomen benefited from this program.
- iv. Indian  Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) is conducting training programs to farmers of various states on 'Integrated Crop Management in cotton' in collaboration with respective  State  Department  of  Agriculture  under  Agricultural  Technology  Management Agency  (ATMA)  program.    Under  the  institutes'  SCSP  (Scheduled  Caste  Sub  Plan)  and TSP  (Tribal  Sub-Plan)  programs,  166  training  programmes  were  conducted  and  11,887 tribal farmers in rural areas are being trained.
- v. ICAR- Central Institute for Cotton Research (CICR), Nagpur issues real-time weekly advisories  to  officials  of  State  Agricultural  Departments  and  Krishi  Vigyan  Kendra  (KVKs) and  voice  messages  (e-communication)  to  the  registered  cotton  farmers  to  address contingency measures to mitigate the abiotic  stresses-  heat,  drought,  excess  rainfall  and pest & disease situation through 35 weekly advisories and 19,25,232 voice SMS.

Further,  every  year,  Government  fixes  Minimum  Support  Prices  (MSP)  to  provide remunerative  prices  to  cotton  farmers,  protecting  them  from  distress  sales  when  market prices  fall  below  the  MSP.  The  MSP  is  fixed  at  least  50  percent  margin  over  the  cost  of production. The rise in inputs cost is accounted in the cost of production calculations. For cotton season 2025-26, the Government has fixed the MSP of Fair Average Quality (FAQ) for  Medium  Staple  Cotton  at  ₹7710  per  Quintal  and  Long  Staple  Cotton  at  ₹8110  per Quintal, respectively by raising ₹589 per quintal over the last year 2024-25.

The Cotton Corporation of India (CCI), under the Ministry of Textiles, safeguards the interests  of  cotton  farmers  by  opening  adequate  procurement  centres,  where  its  officials remain  present  throughout  the  cotton  season  to  ensure  the  implementation  of  Minimum Support  Price  (MSP).  There  are  no  fixed  targets  or  quantity  restrictions for  cotton procurement  under  MSP  operations.  However,  the  farmers  have  the  liberty  to  sell  their produce either to CCI or private parties. In 2025-26 cotton season, the CCI has opened 570 procurement centers across 149 districts in 11 cotton-producing states. As per information made available by CCI, as on 02.12.2025, CCI has procured 17,28,866 bales under MSP operations during the current cotton season 2025-26.

- (c):        The details of the  funds  released for the Special Project on Cotton under NFSM at ICAR- CICR, Nagpur are as under:

| Year    | Total funds (₹)   |
|---------|-------------------|
| 2023-24 | 20,93,42,000      |
| 2024-25 | 25,48,94,000      |
| 2025-26 | 15,08,08,750      |

Further, during the last  five  years, i.e.  2020-21  to  2024-25, the  details  of  funds released under NFSNM-Cotton (Central Share) to the State of Maharashtra are as under:

| Year    |   Total funds (Rs. in Crore) |
|---------|------------------------------|
| 2020-21 |                       1.25   |
| 2021-22 |                       1.4    |
| 2022-23 |                       1.315  |
| 2023-24 |                       3.025  |
| 2024-25 |                       3.0811 |

## (d):    The details of districts and clusters under Special Project on Cotton are as under:

| Year    | All India   | All India   | Maharashtra   | Maharashtra   | HDPS in Maharashtra   | HDPS in Maharashtra   | Closer Spacing (CS) in Maharashtra   | Closer Spacing (CS) in Maharashtra   |
|---------|-------------|-------------|---------------|---------------|-----------------------|-----------------------|--------------------------------------|--------------------------------------|
|         | Districts   | Clusters    | Districts     | Clusters      | Districts             | Clusters              | Districts                            | Clusters                             |
| 2023-24 | 61          | 373         | 16            | 74            | 9                     | 40                    | 16                                   | 66                                   |
| 2024-25 | 65          | 461         | 16            | 115           | 11                    | 62                    | 15                                   | 105                                  |
| 2025-26 | 65          | 412         | 17            | 121           | 10                    | 60                    | 15                                   | 106                                  |

- (e):        Monitoring  of  Special  Project  to  evaluate  improvements  in  cotton  productivity  was done  by  Director,  ICAR-CICR;  Director,  Directorate  of  Cotton  Development  (DCD);  Chief Nodal Scientist (Special Project); State Nodal Officers; and District Nodal Officers during the last 3 years. Additional Secretary (Crops & Seeds), Government of India monitored Special Project in Nagpur district of Maharashtra during 23 rd December 2024.

The improvement of the  cotton  productivity  was  recorded  during  the  year  2023-24 cropping season as-

- (i) Average yield in HDPS demonstration plot was 8.68 q/acre while conventional plots recorded 6.60 q/acre. This led to increase of 30.40% over conventional practice.
- (ii) In  Closer  Spacing  demonstration  plot,  the  average  yield  was  9.91  q/acre  while  in conventional  plots  yield  was  7.71  q/acre  i.e.  an  increase  of  39.15%  over  conventional practice.
- (iii) In  Extra Long Staple cotton demonstration plot, the average yield was 6.11 q/acre whereas  in  conventional  plots  it  was  5.73  q/acre  with  an  increase  of  6.81  %  over conventional practice.

Similarly, In 2024-25 cropping season-

- (i) The  average yield in HDPS  demonstration  plot was  11.46 q/acre while in conventional plots was 8.19 q/acre with 39.81% increase over conventional practice.
- (ii) In  closer  spacing  demonstration  plot,  the  average  yield  was  10.91  q/acre  while  in conventional plots was 8.24 q/acre with 32.45% increase over conventional practice.
- (iii) In  Extra Long Staple cotton demonstration plot, the average yield was 8.04 q/acre whereas  in conventional plots yield was  6.76  q/acre with 18.91  %  increase over conventional practice.

## State-wise Production of Cotton

| State          | Production (Thousand bales, each bale of 170 Kg.)   | Production (Thousand bales, each bale of 170 Kg.)   | Production (Thousand bales, each bale of 170 Kg.)   | Production (Thousand bales, each bale of 170 Kg.)   | Production (Thousand bales, each bale of 170 Kg.)   |
|----------------|-----------------------------------------------------|-----------------------------------------------------|-----------------------------------------------------|-----------------------------------------------------|-----------------------------------------------------|
| State          | 2020-21                                             | 2021-22                                             | 2022-23                                             | 2023-24                                             | 2024-25                                             |
| Andhra Pradesh | 1600.55                                             | 1707.62                                             | 1540.52                                             | 737.26                                              | 1131.20                                             |
| Assam          | 0.39                                                | 0.38                                                | 0.51                                                | 0.51                                                | 0.30                                                |
| Chhattisgarh   | 8.40                                                | 7.53                                                | 9.44                                                | 12.69                                               | 11.33                                               |
| Gujarat        | 7212.18                                             | 7509.34                                             | 8795.33                                             | 9056.99                                             | 7156.80                                             |
| Haryana        | 1822.90                                             | 1316.06                                             | 1000.50                                             | 1508.76                                             | 1176.63                                             |
| Karnataka      | 2320.12                                             | 1954.60                                             | 2567.88                                             | 2058.55                                             | 2273.29                                             |
| Kerala         | 0.03                                                | 0.02                                                | 0.02                                                | 0.05                                                | 0.03                                                |
| Madhya Pradesh | 1338.56                                             | 1419.76                                             | 1433.25                                             | 1801.06                                             | 1535.19                                             |
| Maharashtra    | 10105.05                                            | 8249.24                                             | 8315.67                                             | 8045.49                                             | 7372.86                                             |
| Odisha         | 550.99                                              | 625.91                                              | 704.92                                              | 704.92                                              | 822.54                                              |
| Punjab         | 1022.68                                             | 645.99                                              | 443.63                                              | 628.82                                              | 414.21                                              |
| Rajasthan      | 3207.59                                             | 2480.99                                             | 2774.47                                             | 2621.66                                             | 1786.22                                             |
| Tamil Nadu     | 243.21                                              | 301.91                                              | 319.02                                              | 251.83                                              | 210.74                                              |
| Telangana      | 5797.91                                             | 4878.06                                             | 5744.62                                             | 5079.71                                             | 5788.73                                             |
| Tripura        | 0.94                                                | 0.81                                                | 0.36                                                | 0.36                                                | 0.49                                                |
| Uttar Pradesh  | 6.46                                                | 8.61                                                | 6.74                                                | 9.11                                                | 39.53                                               |
| West Bengal    | 0.87                                                | 0.25                                                | 0.40                                                | 0.37                                                | 0.40                                                |
| Others         | 9.52                                                | 10.51                                               | 2.91                                                | 3.88                                                | 3.69                                                |
| All India      | 35248.35                                            | 31117.59                                            | 33660.19                                            | 32522.02                                            | 29724.18                                            |

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