Cotton Corp denies farmers charges

Cotton Corporation of India (CCI) has denied the charges by a section of the farming community that it is not actively participating in cotton purchases.

Speaking to Business Standard, T Bhanoji Rao, the CCI general manager, also refuted the farmers' charge that they had been offered prices well below the minimum support price (MSP) announced by the government.

"The CCI has set up 51 purchase points in the cotton-growing areas of the state including 11 points each in Guntur district and Khammam districts, 4 points in Prakasam district, 3 points each in Nellore and Krishna districts. Even at the time when the MSP price was only Rs 1,975, the corporation purchased cotton from the farmers by paying them Rs 2,300 to Rs 2,400 a quintal depending on the quality," he pointed out.

Bhanoji Rao said that before the onset of the season, the CCI officials had appealed to the farmers not to sell their crop to traders through middlemen.

The farmers were asked to bring their crop to the CCI purchasing points. Chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu asked the CCI officials to be liberal on the price front.

"There is no reason why CCI should offer unremunerative prices to the farmers," he said and added that CCI was offering 12 to 20 per cent over and above the MSP rate.

"While the season in Guntur region started four days ago, it is in full swing in Telangana. In Andhra, 20 per cent crop has come to the market from Khammam and to some extent from the Krishna district. In all, 26 lakh bales of cotton are likely to arrive at the market this season. So far, 7.85 lakh bales of cotton have come to the market, of which 6 lakh bales have been pressed. In Guntur district the crop has started arriving from Pidiguralla, Dachepalli and Sattenapalli areas.

It is not correct to say that 50 per cent cotton crop had reached the market and that the prices had come down in Guntur district, the CCI official said.

The purchasing activities were going on smoothly at the centres except at Chilakaluripet where the hamalis had been creating trouble for quite some time.

He explained that the cotton price would depend on the percentage of lint realisation from the crop.

"Bhynsa cotton in Adilabad district would give 33 to 33.5 per cent lint and naturally gets the maximum price. On an average, cotton from Telangana would assure 31.5 per to 32 per cent lint realisation. But in Guntur and other parts lint realisation percentage varies from 29.5 to 30 per cent, hence these get relatively lower prices. At Khammam, for instance, the lowest price offered was Rs 2,000 whereas the highest price was Rs 2,400," he said.

Around nine lakh cotton bales are expected from the coastal Andhra this season, of which 13 lakh bales are likely to be pressed, as stocks from other areas would reach the ginning mills here, he informed. The season would end in January in Telangana in March in the coastal Andhra, he added.