Cotton Procurement at MSP Begins in Andhra Pradesh

30-Oct-2025 11:33 AM

Vijayawada. The government procurement process for cotton officially began in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh on October 29th.

The state's Agriculture Minister stated that the Cotton Corporation of India (CCI) has made full preparations and is immediately commencing procurement at 30 procurement centers to prevent damage to the cotton crop from the severe cyclone Montha. However, this effort failed to achieve significant results, and the state's cotton crop was damaged.

According to the Agriculture Minister, the cotton sown area in Andhra Pradesh improved to 4.56 lakh hectares during the current year, and cotton production was estimated to be around 8 lakh tonnes before Cyclone Montha struck.

The cyclone brought torrential rains and strong winds to several districts in Andhra Pradesh, which is expected to cause severe damage to the cotton crop. This will prove to be a severe blow to farmers.

The Central Government has fixed the Minimum Support Price (MSP) for cotton for the current marketing season 2025-26 at ₹7,710 per quintal for the medium-staple category and ₹8,110 per quintal for the long-staple varieties.

The torrential rains have also affected the quality of cotton in Andhra Pradesh, significantly increasing its moisture content.

Ensuring the sale of this affected quality cotton at the minimum support price will be a difficult challenge for the state government.

The impact of the torrential rains is also being felt in Telangana, where farmers are already facing difficulties due to the high moisture content in cotton.