The vision of Punjab and Gujarat is different as far as cotton cultivation is concerned.

In a recent move, the Punjab government has chalked out big plans to turn the state into a cotton hub with state-of-the-art technology for commercial designing, manufacturing and finishing of cotton goods.

However, Gujarat, a major player in cotton production, has decided to reduce its cotton cultivation this year.

While Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal said the state would be converted into the cotton capital of India 'within a definite timeframe', Gujarat government has decided to reduce the state's dependency on cotton and focus more on other crops like oilseeds and pulses, whose harvest remained low in 2006.

The Malwa belt of Punjab, comprising districts like Bathinda, Mansa, Ferozepore and others, are known for their cotton production. The cotton output of this belt has been good in the last 2-3 years.

"We are not only trying to tie up with major players in the cotton industry but are also planning to send progressive cotton growers and industrialists to China, Australia, United States, Britain, Europe and other countries. They will look into the upgradation of technology for quality cotton production and also explore market potential for cotton products," Badal told cotton growers and industrialists. He urged agriculture scientists to find new techniques to increase cotton production.

In contrast to Punjab, Gujarat has reduced its target of cotton production as well as the area to be covered under cotton cultivation.

Gujarat government has set a target of covering 19.84 lakh (1.98 million) hectare of land under cotton cultivation during fiscal 2007-08, while the target for cotton production was pegged at 66.54 lakh (6.65 million) bales.

As against this, cotton production in 2006-07 stood at 87.87 lakh (8.8 million) bales, while the total area covered under cotton cultivation in 2006-07 was 23.90 lakh (2.4 million) hectare.

The decision attains more importance as it has come at a time when the state agriculture department raised the targets for other crops while the reduction has been only with regards to cotton, in which Gujarat is a major player.

In 2006-07 also cotton production remained lower than the targeted volume.