High-yielding cotton varieties needed: Niranjan Reddy

Hyderabad: State Agriculture Minister S Niranjan Reddy has stressed that the country needs cotton seed varieties with high yields and machinery suitable for small land parcel cultivation.

The minister, along with a delegation comprising MLAs Ravindra Naik, Dr Methuku Anand, Peddi Sudarsan Reddy, and TS Seeds MD Kesavulu, was on a study tour in the US to take stock of modern cultivation practices in high cotton crop yields. The delegation visited a 13,000-acre cotton cultivation farm, and interacted with farmers Richard Kelly and Broad Williams, in Memphis (Tennessee State) on Thursday.

The minister said scientists should conduct research on needs of Indian agriculture conditions.

He said the cultivable land parcels in the US are very large, as against that in India. Mechanisation suitable to smaller land holdings would benefit the Indian farmers, he added.

He said to meet international competition, there is a need to reduce investment and increase crop production.

Reddy said mechanised agriculture in the US allows 30,000 plants per acre. The high-density cultivation reduces the problem of pests. On an average 1000-5,000 acres of farmlands cultivate cotton in the US. Machines with capacity to extract 70,000 tonnes of cotton are available.

Cotton cultivated 52-70 hectares could be harvested in a single day. It costs 1 US $ m; farmers are using about 500 gallons of diesel.

"Tennessee is known for cultivating cotton as its main crop for the past 200 years. Revolutionary changes have been brought in cotton cultivation.

The State cultivates cotton on about 5.5-6.5 lakh acres producing a million bales in a year. It acts as headquarters for the National Cotton Council of America.The delegation visited single-pick cotton cultivation, seed production centre, and ginning mills. It also took stock of the machinery used for ploughing, sowing and applying anti-weed treatment in one go.

Responding to the suggestions of the Union Minister Piyush Goel to the states on the fixing of electricity meters to the agriculture connections and increasing the cultivation of paddy, the minister said that the Centre should shun its tough stand on the fixation of electric meters to the agriculture connections.