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Cotton, once a mainstay of the kharif economy in north India, is continuing to lose ground across the region’s three main cotton growing states — Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan.

1. Together, the three states had around 11.83 lakh hectares under cotton last year. This year, the area has fallen to around 9.09 lakh hectares — a decline of 2.74 lakh hectares, or 23.2 per cent, equivalent to about 6.77 lakh acres.

2. The decline is sharpest in Punjab, where cotton acreage has fallen from around 1.28 lakh hectares last year to an all-time low of about 80,000 hectares this year — a decline of nearly 48,000 hectares, or 37.5 per cent, in a single season.

3. The traditional cotton belt — comprising Bathinda, Mansa, Muktsar Sahib, Fazilka, Faridkot, Ferozepur and parts of Sangrur and Barnala — has steadily shifted towards paddy and other crops.

4. The long-term decline is even more striking. Punjab had around 7 lakh hectares under cotton in the late 1980s, while the crop continued to occupy more than 4-5 lakh hectares in several years until 2014-15, reaching around 6.69 lakh hectares at its peak during this period.

5. The decline accelerated after the 2015 whitefly attack, followed by repeated pink bollworm infestations since 2021, bringing acreage down to barely 80,000 hectares now.

6. Haryana has also witnessed a significant fall. While cotton acreage had crossed 6 lakh hectares earlier, the actual area was around 3.80 lakh hectares last year and has fallen further to around 2.95 lakh hectares this year.

7. The contraction has been particularly visible in the traditional cotton-growing districts of Hisar, Charkhi Dadri and Bhiwani, with Haryana losing roughly 85,000 hectares in a year.

8. Rajasthan, which accounts for the largest cotton area among the three states, has seen its acreage decline from approximately 6.55 lakh hectares last year to 5.34 lakh hectares this year — a reduction of 1.21 lakh hectares, or 18.5 per cent.

9. In upper Rajasthan, including Sri Ganganagar and Hanumangarh, the area has fallen from around 4.14 lakh hectares to 3.44 lakh hectares. In the Bhilwara belt, it has declined from around 2.41 lakh hectares to 1.90 lakh hectares.

10. Officials in Haryana and Rajasthan attribute a significant part of this year’s decline to rain and monsoon conditions. While Rajasthan still accounts for the largest share of north India’s cotton area, Punjab has recorded the steepest percentage decline among the three states, underlining the continuing erosion of its traditional cotton belt.

11. Between 2020 and 2025, Haryana’s cropping pattern has undergone a marked transformation. The area under rice cultivation expanded from 15.26 lakh hectares in 2020 to 18.68 lakh hectares in 2025, while cotton acreage shrank from 7.20 lakh hectares to just 4.01 lakh hectares.

12. This shift reflects farmers’ growing preference for paddy, which offers assured procurement and stable returns. In contrast, cotton has become increasingly unviable due to pest attacks, declining Bt‑cotton resistance, and mounting cultivation losses.

13. Bt‑cotton, once resistant to pests like the pink bollworm, has lost its effectiveness as pests have adapted over time. Farmers now spend heavily on pesticides but still face yields as low as two quintals per acre, far below the eight quintals needed for profitability. This leaves them with losses of nearly Rs 15,000 per acre.

— Pink bollworm is an insect pest, whose larvae bore into the bolls (fruits) of the cotton plant. The bolls contain seeds from which the white fluffy cotton fibres or lint grow. The PBW caterpillars feed on the developing seeds and the lint, causing yield loss as well as lint discolouration.

— The GM cotton now grown in India have two Bt genes, ‘cry1Ac’ and ‘cry2Ab’, coding for proteins toxic to the American bollworm, spotted bollworm and cotton leafworm pests. The double-gene hybrids initially provided some protection against the PBW too, but that effectiveness has dissipated over time.

— The reason for it is that the PBW is a monophagous pest, which feeds exclusively on cotton. This is unlike the other three pests that are polyphagous and survive on multiple host crops: The American bollworm larvae infest even maize, jowar (sorghum), tomato, bhindi (okra), chana (chickpea) and lobia (cowpea).

— Being monophagous enabled the PBW larvae to gradually build resistance to the toxins from the existing Bt cotton hybrids. The PBW population that became resistant from continuously feeding on these plants eventually overtook and replaced the ones that were susceptible.

— The pest’s short life cycle (25-35 days from egg laying to adult moth stage), allowing it to complete at least 3-4 generations in a single crop season of 180-270 days, further accelerated the resistance breakdown process.

— A recent article in the Nature scientific journal showed the PBW developing resistance to both cry1Ac and cry2Ab toxins by 2014, about 12 years after Indian farmers began cultivating Bt cotton. 14. In Punjab, the decline in cotton reflects a combination of pest attacks, falling yields, rising costs, market uncertainty and the relative security offered by paddy. Bhagwan Bansal, president of the Punjab Ginners’ Association, said repeated whitefly and pink bollworm attacks had eroded farmers’ confidence.

15. According to Bansal, yields that once ranged between 8 and 12 quintals per acre have fallen to around 5-7 quintals in many cases. Even at prices of Rs 7,000-8,000 per quintal, may only be around Rs 35,000-40,000 to 50,000-55,000 per acre, and after meeting the cultivation expenses, the margin is very low,” he said.

16. Punjab has added more than one lakh tubewell connections over roughly the past decade, particularly in the Malwa region. With irrigation increasingly available, farmers who traditionally cultivated cotton due to non-availability of ground water in several areas have found it easier to shift to paddy.

17. Assured MSP procurement, an extensive mandi network, timely payments and free electricity have given paddy an income security that cotton does not offer to the same extent.

18. Bansal said farmers would return to cotton only if the risks were addressed through better seed, effective pest control, higher yields, remunerative prices and a reliable market.

19. The cultivation of genetically modified (GM) cotton hybrids – incorporating alien genes isolated from a soil bacterium, Bacillus thuringiensis or Bt – had led to not only a near-trebling of production (from 136 lb to 398 lb), but also a 139-fold jump in exports (from 0.8 lb to 117 lb), between 2002-03 and 2013-14.

20. Subsequently, however, exports have dipped even as imports have risen. India’s cotton imports this year, at 30 lb, are slated to surpass its exports of 17 lb.

1. The government has taken several measures to enhance the production of cotton. From allowing the production of Bt Cotton to providing Minimum Support Price (MSP), the government has been extending support to cotton producers.

2. It has launched the Kapas Kisan App to facilitate seamless procurement of cotton from farmers under the Minimum Support Price scheme.

3. In April 2026, the Union Cabinet approved the Mission for Cotton Productivity with an outlay of Rs 5,659 crore, to run from 2026-27 to 2030-31. The intent is to raise lint productivity from 441 kg per hectare (in triennium ending (TE) 2025-26) to 755 kg/ha by 2031.

4. It aims to provide “the best of science & technology support” to farmers and “ensure a steady supply of quality cotton” for the Indian textile industry, aligned with the 5F vision (Farm to Fibre to Factory to Fashion to Foreign) of the Government for the textile sector.

5. The mission focuses on development of high-yielding seeds, upscaling of cotton production technologies like High Density Planting System (HDPS) and Closer Spacing (CS) and modernization of ginning and processing factories.

6. It also seeks to promote standardized quality assessment through accredited cotton testing infrastructure, branding under Kasturi Cotton Bharat initiative, and digital integration of mandis.

1. Cotton, a semi-xerophyte, is grown in tropical and subtropical conditions. 15 degrees Celsius is the minimum temperature required for better germination under field conditions.

2. The optimum temperature for vegetative growth is between 21 and 27 degrees Celsius, and it can tolerate temperatures to the extent of 43 degrees Celsius; however, temperatures below 21 degrees Celsius impact its growth.

3. Warm days of cool nights with large diurnal variations during the period of fruiting are conducive to good boll and fibre development.

4. A variety of well-drained soils are suitable for cotton production. It is semi-tolerant to salinity and sensitive to waterlogging. Well-drained alluvial soils in the north, to black clayey soils in the central region, and in black and mixed black and red soils in the south zone, are suitable for the production.

5. There are nine major cotton-growing states in India, as per the Ministry of textiles, these are grouped into three diverse agro-ecological zones:

(iii) Southern Zone – Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka.

6. According to the Ministry of Textile, India is the only country that grows all four species of cotton G. Arboreum and G. Herbaceum (Asian cotton), G. Barbadense (Egyptian cotton) and G. Hirsutum (American Upland cotton).

7. The Cotton Corporation of India Limited (CCI) has been nominated by the Government of India for undertaking MSP operations in the event when prices of seed cotton (kapas) fall below the MSP level for procuring kapas offered by the cotton farmers.

(1) The crop is subtropical in nature. A hard frost is injurious to it. It requires at least 210 frost-free days and 50 to 100 centimeters of rainfall for its growth. A light well-drained soil capable of retaining moisture is ideally suited for the cultivation of the crop. Which one of the following is that crop? (UPSC CSE, 2020)

(Sources: North India’s cotton belt shrinks 23%, Punjab takes the biggest hit, https://www.texmin.gov.in/, Knowledge Nugget: What is Mission for Cotton Productivity?, Explained: The crisis in India’s cotton production, and what can help, From cotton to paddy: Why Haryana farmers are changing course)