Pile of challenges in cotton procurement: Increasing difficulties faced by farmers
CCI should keep the procurement centers open till the end of April and procure cotton from all those farmers who are awaiting registration, those who have registered but have not booked slots.
Agriculture Minister Dattatreya Bharne presented a picture in the Assembly that there is no problem in the agriculture sector and everything is prosperous. At the same time, the cotton growers of Vidarbha are in a dilemma as to where to sell the cotton as the procurement by 'CCI' (Cotton Corporation of India) has stopped. In Yavatmal district alone, more than 40,000 farmers are waiting to register to sell cotton, and we should estimate the number of farmers waiting across the state.
This year, cotton suffered huge losses due to heavy rains in Kharif. Due to prolonged monsoon, the cotton of the first crop got wet and spoiled. Apart from this, cotton plucking also started late. Farmers have to get cotton plucked by laborers. For the last few years, cotton picking laborers are not available. Farmers have to pay arbitrary wages to pick cotton. The guaranteed price of cotton is Rs 8110 per quintal. Since the prices in village procurement were Rs 6000 to Rs 7000, some producers were inclined towards CCI procurement centres. But CCI's cotton purchases have been a roller coaster ride for growers since the beginning of the year.
CCI procurement centers started late. This year, for the first time, registration on the Cotton Kisan App was made mandatory. Many cotton farmers do not have smart phones, lack of internet network also led to lack of registration in some areas. CCI had earlier claimed that all the cotton from registered farmers would be purchased. However, after registering the cotton farmers, slot booking was made mandatory for when they would bring the cotton for sale.
But many farmers were told that there is no space available for slot booking at most of the centres. Producers are now raising questions as to what will happen to our cotton procurement due to lack of registration and slot booking. Like last year, this year too it was estimated that cotton would be procured from CCI by the end of March. Looking at the overall situation this year, producers demanded that cotton procurement should continue till the end of April. Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis had also sent a letter to Union Textiles Minister Giriraj Singh demanding extension of the cotton procurement deadline till April 30, 2026.
But after the expiry of the deadline of 28th February, the purchase of CCI was extended till 15th March only. Procurement at most centers actually continued for only six days due to delays in procurement during the extension period and holidays. Keeping all these aspects in mind, CCI's purchasing centers should be continued till the end of April. Also CCI should purchase cotton from all those farmers who are waiting for registration, registered but slots are not booked.
Since prices were initially low, many producers stockpiled cotton in anticipation of a boom. But after incurring losses, CCI started selling cotton at lower prices in January itself, thereby stopping the price rise. Of course, cotton growers did not get any relief from CCI, on the contrary, their policy of selling cotton at low prices has affected the farmers. From seed to marketing process, government policies are at the core of cotton growers.
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