Maharashtra, the second largest Indian state in cotton production, has planted approximately 5.2 million hectares of cotton in 2004/05. However, the average production was only 290 kilograms of lint per hectare, registering the second lowest production of any Indian state.
Much of the cotton acreage is cultivated on poor squashy soils that depend solely on monsoon rains that can be very irregular at times.
The season of this year in the state started roughly; first, was the late monsoon followed by torrential rains of July, which rendered the 2005 crop in diverse conditions and abnormal in development. From November 5, new crop supplies amounted to only 45,000 170-k bales.
The Maharashtra cotton monopoly procurement plan remains prepared this season; however, the price at which the cotton will be obtained is the same as that paid by the CCI on a national basis.
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