Monsoon long-staple cotton plantations exceed target acres in Sagaing Region

According to figures from the Sagaing District Agriculture Department, 36,011 acres were designated for cultivating long-staple cotton monsoon crops. However, the actual plantation area was 36,472 acres, exceeding the target acres by 101 per cent.
According to the types of long-staple cotton, cotton varieties such as Shwetaung-8 Shwetaung-10, Ngwechi-9, Ngwechi-10 and Hybrid (Raka) are planted in pre and late monsoon. The target yield of cotton is 700 visses per acre out of the ten major crops of the Agriculture Department. The estimated cost per acre in 2023-2024 for Sagaing district is over K900,000, and the average yield is about 500 visses per acre. The long-staple cotton cost K3,000 per viss in September and K2,700 per viss in October and November. There are 13 cotton ginning factories in the Sagaing district. A each cotton ginning factory can turn 10,000 visses of raw cotton in a 12-hour workday into 330 visses of cotton goods and 62 visses of cotton seeds while just five per cent of the cotton is wasted. The regions of Sagaing, Mandalay, and Magway are purchasing raw cotton, and the cotton goods are being sold to China and Mandalay (cotton ginning factory). One viss of cotton valued at K7,000–K7,500 and one viss of cotton seeds valued at K1,100–K1,200 was exported to Mandalay in December 2023.
As cotton is cost-effective for farmers, cotton mills only work for nine months, from August to April. — TWA/MKKS