Haryana’s cotton fields are held together by a thread

In Haryana’s dusty heartland of Hisar, about 180 kilometers west of Delhi, Satyavan, a seasoned farmer in his 50s, recalls the declining fortunes of cotton farming. A tall figure with a stern demeanor and gray close-cropped hair, he sits among fellow farmers in Kirtan village, his sharp features reflected with concern.

For 25 years, Satyavan has plowed the land and grown cotton as a kharif crop, but profits have been disappointing for the past decade. Last year, he sowed 5 acres of land, but suffered a loss of ₹15,000. They say the culprit is the persistent pink bollworm, which has ravaged their crops since 2014. “When you take into account the costs of seed, fertilizer, diesel and harvesting, the losses are obvious.”

Sitting next to him, Dayanand Dhaka, 53, his light brown stubble shining in the sunlight, describes cotton cultivation as a Sisyphean task. “Three to four quintals per acre, that’s all I got last year,” he says, a sense of defeat evident in his voice. “The cost has outweighed my meager returns. It has caused me a loss of ₹40,000.”

It’s a story that has been repeating itself over the last 5-6 years: the relentless onslaught of pink bollworm, the government’s elusive Minimum Support Price (MSP), and the crushing reality of survival. “Government agencies said my cotton was not at the right price, so I sold it to private buyers at ₹6,200 per quintal, which is ₹1,600 less than the MSP,” Dhaka said with resignation in his tone. Dhaka says that he used to get his crop insured every year, but he never received the insurance money.

The 2025 report of the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare recorded that the total area under cotton cultivation in Haryana has declined from 0.72 million hectares in 2019-20 to 0.40 million hectares in 2024-25, reducing the state’s share in the total area under the crop at the national level from 5.36% to 3.47%.

The Department of Agricultural Economics, Chaudhary Charan Singh Haryana Agricultural University (CCSHAU), in its latest report has estimated that cotton farmers suffered a loss of ₹15,143 per acre in the last Kharif season. Cotton is best spread in the western and south-western districts of Haryana including Sirsa, Fatehabad, Jhajjar, Charkhi Dadri, Bhiwani and Jind.

What the study found

Titled ‘Economics of Important Kharif Crops in Haryana-2025’, the 34-page report calculates the cost of cultivation and production and net returns in 18 out of 23 districts of Haryana for seven crops: paddy, cotton, millet, moong, cluster bean (locally known as guar), maize and sorghum.

According to the report, the average variable cost of growing cotton per acre for the state was ₹22,821 and the total cost including transportation, land rental value and management charges was ₹40,024. The gross return per acre was ₹24,882, including income from by-products. The average production was four quintals per acre.

Hisar, Fatehabad and Charkhi Dadri recorded net losses of ₹17,515, ₹17,315 and ₹15,276 per acre, which are higher than the state average. The loss of ₹9,548 per acre in Rewari was less than the state average.

For the study, each district was classified into different cropping zones based on the existing cropping pattern. About 40 farmers were randomly selected from four villages representing different cropping areas and information was collected. While the report cautions that the sample size for data collection was not large, it says the results are broadly indicative for the various issues involved in the decision-making process for cultivation of various kharif crops in Haryana.

Vinay Mehla, Assistant Scientist, Department of Agricultural Economics, CCSHAU, sheds light on the cotton crisis. He says historically, cotton has faced threats from pests such as the spotted bollworm, American bollworm and pink bollworm. The introduction of genetically modified Bt cotton seeds containing Bacillus thuringiensis genes in the early 2000s initially reduced the threat of pink bollworm. However, by the early 2010s the pest developed significant resistance, causing catastrophic yield losses. “Before pink bollworm, yields were up to 10-12 quintals per acre; now, they are less than half of that. Last year’s floods have worsened the situation,” says Mehla.

He advocates comprehensive reforms, emphasizing local diversity development and dedicated funding. He has urged an emergency government meeting to deal with the crisis and warned that cotton cultivation, which is already in decline, could be a thing of the past within a few years if controls are not imposed.

Last year, the yield was an average of four quintals per acre, fetching ₹5,000-₹6,000 per quintal, leading to losses to farmers. As cotton cultivation continues to decline, farmers, industry, and the economy face serious consequences, including increased imports and revenue loss. “Those who are still growing cotton are mostly hanging on by a thread to its by-products,” says Mehla.

finished gold

Haryana’s cotton, which once thrived in the region’s dry climate and sandy loam soils, is now struggling. Dwindling yields have left farmers like Dayanand and Satyavan with very few options. Alternative kharif crops like guar and moong are susceptible to the fungus. The highly saline groundwater in the area is not suitable for paddy, and the low returns of millet make this labor-intensive crop economically unviable.

Satyavan’s experiment with KR-64 cotton, an indigenous, hybrid variety, flopped last year, yielding only two quintals per acre. Farmers are torn between poor yields and unviable options, leaving their economic stability hanging in the balance. Shifting to new crops depends on various factors, including climatic conditions, availability of labour, market demand and, above all, the right price.

“Farmers in the cotton belt of Hisar are struggling, they depend on wheat and mustard for their livelihood,” says farmer Sandeep, who owns 6 acres of land. “Farming is becoming a loss-making business,” he says. Even with MSP, rising input costs leave farmers with little profit. Sandeep says, “In 2005, 10 grams of gold was bought for one quintal of food grains; Now this is a part of it.”

Diesel prices also tell a similar story. It costs one quintal of grain to buy one barrel of diesel. Now, farmers require three quintals for one barrel. “The government needs to address this price-input cost imbalance. Farmers are now turning to paddy despite water problems, or exploring alternatives like poultry farming, or even selling land,” says journalist-farmer Ramandeep.

switch to rice

Sirsa, Haryana’s top cotton-producing district, has seen a gradual decline in the area under cotton cultivation over five years, registering a decline of 34.62% since 2020, according to district agriculture department data. Farmers are also abandoning cotton as the yield per hectare has gone down. From 714 kg per hectare in 2019, the average yield of cotton in Sirsa is expected to fall to 264 kg per hectare in 2022; It increased to 583 kg per hectare in 2023, which decreased to 534 kg per hectare the following year.

Despite Sirsa’s dry climate being more suitable for the crop historically and agro-climatically, farmers are turning to rice, a water-intensive crop. District agriculture department data shows that the area under rice (paddy) cultivation has increased from 1,00,300 hectares in 2020 to 1,55,650 hectares in 2024, a jump of 55.18%.

Deputy Director of Agriculture, Sirsa, Sukhdev Singh Kamboj, says cotton is a crop prone to pests like pink bollworm, whitefly and is also affected by sudden changes in weather conditions, forcing farmers to move towards alternative crops, despite various government schemes to encourage water-efficient crops.

Under the ‘Mera Pani-Meri Virasat (My Water, My Heritage)’ scheme, the Haryana government provides an incentive of Rs 8,000 per acre to farmers growing water-based crops like maize, pulses and cotton instead of paddy to conserve the falling groundwater level. Apart from causing economic hardship to farmers, the decline in cotton production has also dealt a blow to the Haryana government’s efforts to arrest the rapidly depleting groundwater level in the state.

Kamboj says, “The Haryana government also offers an incentive of Rs 3,000 per acre to farmers growing indigenous cotton because it requires much less water and is resilient to climate challenges. But it has not found many buyers because the local varieties are priced lower than Bt cotton and there is inconsistent demand in the market, although the average yield per hectare remains flat.” Desi varieties are comparatively more labor-intensive than high-density hybrids that can be picked mechanically.

Reading:How did cotton colonize the world?

However, many farmers believe that local varieties are not easily available, making it difficult for them to avail the benefits of the government scheme. The government also offers incentives of ₹2,000 per acre (maximum ₹4,000 per farmer) to cotton growers under its Integrated Nutrient Management (INM) and Integrated Pest Management (IPM) programmes, but all these efforts have so far failed to attract farmers back to cotton, says Kamboj.

farm labor struggle

The decline in cotton production has also affected agricultural labourers. Playing cards under a tree in Jhajjar’s Kherka Gujjar village, surrounded by his friends, Ishwar, from the Scheduled Caste community who is often involved in farm labor work, says the shift to paddy cultivation instead of cotton by local landowners in the region has taken a toll “really badly” on farm laborers like him.

“Cotton picking requires more hands than paddy harvesting. Moreover, landlords prefer migrant laborers from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh for paddy sowing and harvesting because of their expertise and low wages. Local people are given preference for cotton picking,” says the 48-year-old man. He adds that he, like many others from the village, now goes to the city to work as a construction worker.

Beermati, another farm labourer, says she used to earn ₹10,000-15,000 every year during the kharif harvesting season from cotton harvesting. “The decline in cotton production over the years has reduced the demand for seasonal labour, particularly for women, who drive much of the cotton-picking process,” she says. This could ultimately drive workers to urban areas, putting pressure on city infrastructure.

Jhajjar, traditionally a sugarcane region, saw a sudden increase in cotton cultivation after the advent of Bt cotton due to higher production and market price. “Cotton cultivation in Jhajjar was at its peak in 2021, where cotton was cultivated in 32,437 acres.

Jagjit Sangwan, Sub-Divisional Officer (Agriculture), Jhajjar, says, “The government scheme to encourage water-efficient crops also contributed to increasing farmers’ inclination towards this crop.” But the pink bollworm and poor prices affected the farmers.

“My grandfather had bought 2.5 acres of agricultural land with the earnings from just four acres of cotton farming,” says Mehla. “But today, farmers are incurring losses in cotton farming.” He said that soon there will be no cotton fields left in Haryana.

The area under cotton cultivation across India has also declined by 14.84% between 2019-20 and 2024-25, with production falling from 36.07 million bales (170 kg each bale) to 29.72 million bales.

ashok.kumar@thehindu.co.in

Edited by Sunalini Mathew