Despite a little rebound in Punjab, cotton sowing in Haryana and Rajasthan remains sluggish as the 2024-25 season nears its end. The northern cotton belt is once again staring at a potential decline in the total area under the crop, compounding fears already triggered by erratic weather and pest attacks.Punjab has so far covered 1.13 lakh hectares under cotton sowing, Haryana (3.80 lakh ha), Rajasthan (5.17 lakh ha) including both the upper and lower regions. With sowing almost concluded and monsoon timelines tightening, agricultural officials in both the states are expressing cautious optimism, but admit that matching previous year’s acreage looks unlikely.In contrast, Punjab has defined the trend a bit by marking a 15% increase in cotton sowing this year — coming out from a historic low, yet just a partial recovery. In 2024-25, Punjab’s cotton area had crashed to just below 1 lakh hectares, a sharp decline from 2.14 lakh hectares the previous year (2023-24) — a whopping over 50% reduction.In Haryana, this year’s figures are quite low as compared to 4.76 lakh hectares in 2024-25, and from 5.78 lakh hectares in 2023-24. Now, the officials are hoping to touch 4 lakh hectares by the season’s end.In Rajasthan, the crop has seen a quite significant downfall in the past two years as it was 6.62 lakh hectares last year (2024-25), which was down from 10.04 lakh hectares in 2023-24. the delayed sowing continuing until June-end.Collectively, the northern region has witnessed 10.10 lakh hectares so far, which is around 2.35 lakh hectares less from last year when the area under the crop in three states was 12.35 lakh hectares and around 7.86 lakh hectares less than 2023-24, when the total area under cotton in three states was 17.96 lakh hectares.The once-thriving northern cotton belt is now losing the ground fast.Story continues below this adOfficials in Punjab, meanwhile, said their area is shrinking due to frequent pest attacks on the crop and the availability of ground water to the farmers of Punjab cotton belt, making them prefer assured paddy crop over cotton now.Haryana attributes the sluggish sowing to a delay in water release from Punjab’s Bhakra canal system in May and June, which slowed irrigation cycles. “The cotton area remained low this year due to water shortages, but we still hope to achieve close to 4 lakh hectares,” a senior official from the Haryana Agriculture Department said.In Rajasthan, the sowing season was delayed due to hot weather conditions as several farmers are even required to sow the crop twice or thrice, a senior officer from the Rajasthan Agriculture Department said, adding that this pushed back the optimal planting window.“We expect the sowing to continue until June-end, but the full recovery of last year’s acreage is unlikely,” a state agriculture officer said.Story continues below this adBeyond weather and water, cotton growers across all these three states have been battling the persistent pink bollworm infestation, which has decimated yields and eroded the farmers’ confidence. Punjab has been the worst affected, with some experts urging the state to rope in entomologists and pest management scientists to curb the pest menace. Notably, the state once cultivated over 8 lakh hectares under cotton in the early 2000s — a fraction of what it grows now.The shrinking cotton cultivation area in the North region comprising Punjab, Haryana, Upper Rajasthan, and Lower Rajasthan has resulted in modest cotton production this year compared to the previous year.In Punjab, cotton production was only 1.50 lakh bales (of 170 kg each) in 2024-25 (up to April 30 this year) compared to 3.65 lakh bales in 2023-24 during the same period. In Haryana, production dropped to 6.98 lakh bales from 13.30 lakh bales last year. Upper Rajasthan produced 9.77 lakh bales, and Lower Rajasthan produced 8.60 lakh bales compared to 15.47 lakh bales and 13.20 lakh bales, respectively, in the previous year.The North zone’s contribution to the total national cotton production fell to just 10% this year, down from 14% last year (as of April-end). The primary cause of this decline is the reduction in the cotton-growing area, particularly in Punjab, which is a growing concern.Story continues below this adFor the 2025-26 season, the minimum support price (MSP) announced by the Central government is Rs 7,710 per quintal for medium staple cotton and Rs 8,110 per quintal for long staple cotton. Farmers can typically harvest eight to 12 quintals of cotton per acre, provided there is no pest attack and weather conditions remain favorable. In North, farmers predominantly grow medium staple cotton.The decline in cotton production has severely impacted Punjab’s once-thriving ginning and spinning industry. “We were expecting a significant increase in cotton acreage this season in the northern states, especially in Haryana and Rajasthan. However, it is disappointing the actual area under cotton is far below expectations. This will further hurt the ginning industry, which is under stress. Since 2004, around 400 ginning units have been shut down, and only 22 are functional,” Bhagwan Bansal, president of Punjab Ginners’ Association, said.Asserting high transportation costs further burden the struggling industry, he said: “Unless the local availability of cotton improves, the survival of the industry is at serious risk. This situation can only improve if the cotton area increases — cotton being one of the best alternatives to the water-guzzling paddy crop.”