Punjab cotton acreage hits record low

Chandigarh: Punjab has recorded the lowest-ever acreage under cotton at 1.75 lakh hectares in this Kharif season, as against the target of 3 lakh hectares, a senior official of the agriculture department has said.

It was for the first time that the area under cotton has gone below two lakh hectares in Punjab despite several efforts being made by the state agriculture department to promote it as an alternative to the water-guzzling paddy crop. The agriculture department had set a target of 3 lakh hectares of area under cotton this Kharif season but only 1.75 lakh hectares of area could be covered under this crop, the official said.