Cotton Production in Gujarat's Saurashtra Region Could Be Delayed Due to Floods
In most areas of the Saurashtra region, heavy rains began on Sunday and continued until Tuesday morning, causing rivers to swell and fields to flood. Saurashtra has around 15.58 lakh hectares of cotton planted, accounting for almost 70% of the state's total cotton acreage of 22.51 lakh hectares. Saurashtra also contains almost 80% of the state's total 19.09 lakh hectares of groundnuts or 15.34 lakh hectares. According to farmer sources, short-duration crops like moong and urad were ready for harvest and might have been hit by the monsoon's intensity. The two pulses cover around 16,000 and 29,200 hectares of land, respectively. The two crops have experienced good sowing, with urad cultivation increasing by 50% over the previous year and moong area increasing by around 4%. Another source of concern is the sesame-seed crop. With 50,500 hectares, Saurashtra has the most land dedicated to sesame-seed production in the state.