Government purchase of cotton starts in Telangana at minimum support price
28-Oct-2024 04:01 PM
Adilabad. The Central Government's subordinate agency - Cotton Corporation of India (CCI) has started buying cotton from farmers from October 26 at the minimum support price (MSP) of Rs 7521 per quintal. It has said that only that cotton will be purchased in which the moisture content is between 8 to 12 percent.
For the purchase of cotton with more than 8 percent moisture, Rs 75 will be cut in the support price for every 1 percent and cotton with more than 12 percent moisture will not be purchased. On the other hand, traders are purchasing cotton with low moisture at the rate of Rs 6700 per quintal.
543 farmers brought cotton to the Adilabad market on October 26, out of which 47 producers were successful in selling their goods at CCI's purchase centers and getting a price above Rs 700 per quintal.
Farmers had dried the cotton at their homes and brought it, so the moisture content in it was less than 12 percent.
According to official sources, most of the farmers' cotton could not be purchased because it had more than 12 percent moisture.
Farmers say that moisture naturally develops in cotton during winter and the government should pay attention to it. Farmers are not to be blamed for this.
There is a need to modernize the standards of moisture content because selling cotton at a lower price gives less return and farmers suffer financial loss.
One of the complaints of the producers is that the basis and the maximum limit set by CCI for the presence of moisture content in cotton this year is different from the previous years.
The corporation should determine this by studying and analyzing the old records because the level of 8 to 12 percent moisture seems to be very small.
It is worth mentioning that after Gujarat and Maharashtra, Telangana is the third largest cotton producer state in the country.
The plucking and preparation of the new crop of cotton and its arrival in the markets has already started there. Before the start of government procurement, the price of cotton was running much below the minimum support price.