Chandigarh, Punjab's Agriculture Department will provide adequate inputs and BT cotton seeds to enhance the area under cotton cultivation from 9.7 lakh acres to 12.5 lakh acres this year, according to an official here on Sunday.

Additional Chief Secretary Development Viswajeet Khanna said cotton, the second largest traditional kharif crop in southwestern districts, was highly sensitive cash crop as its trend changes from time to time.

The Agriculture Department has chalked out a comprehensive strategy to switch the area from paddy to maize and cotton as part of the crop diversification programme in a phased manner.

In 2018, 6.62 lakh acres were brought under cotton cultivation and 9.7 lakh acres in 2019.

The Department now plans to enhance the area under cotton cultivation from 9.7 lakh acres to 12.5 lakh acres.

The state had provided 21.5 lakh packets of BT cotton seed from reputed seed firms, Khanna said.

The department has coordinated with the Cotton Corporation of India (CCI) to buy last season's remaining produce from farmers at the minimum support price and for this 19 markets in the cotton belt have been made operational.