Faridkot Malwa Cotton Belt Farming Punjab

Faridkot district in the southwestern Punjab Malwa zone is part of the historic cotton triangle with Bathinda and Muktsar, where Bt-cotton is grown on canal-irrigated fields with Rajasthan Canal feeder water. Faridkot farmers experienced significant distress in the 1990s-2000s when Bt-cotton bollworm resistance combined with groundwater depletion drove indebtedness; the district became a focus of Punjab's farm distress narrative. The government's natural farming push and desi cotton revival scheme under NPKV now offers Faridkot farmers organic cotton premiums through buyer linkages to organic textile mills in Gujarat and Maharashtra.