Cotton farmers caught between devil & deep sea

Rangareddy: Tens and thousands of cotton farmers in Chowderguda, Kondurg, Pudur, Parigi, Chevella, Tanduru and Vikarabad areas in the district are caught in between the devil and the deep sea.

Hopes of the cotton farmers in these areas are dashed following a steep drop in the prices to sell their produce in the market.

Farmers were hoping that the cotton would fetch a better price this time and they can settle their debts. But to their shocker, the middlemen are playing havoc with their lives.

The farmers complain that they had to invest about Rs 40,000 per acre to cultivate the cotton crop. However, they are not able to sell the cotton even for half of what they have invested to take the crop.

Several farmers have stocked the cotton at their homes to wait for some more time hoping for better prices for their yield. However, the farmers are alleging that the middlemen are forming a cartel and controlling the prices to deprive them of their due. On the other, the cotton stocks stored at homes are getting infected with pests and turning black due to the rain lashing while harvesting the crop.

The farmer, who is not ready to sell at a low price and going into further debt, is storing the cotton in his house and waits for a support price.

Now, they could store their harvested crop only for a few more days to a couple of weeks.

At the beginning of the procurement season, a quintal of cotton was pegged at Rs 10,000 in the market and it has gone up to Rs. 12,000. So, farmers hoped that it would further increase and they will have good times this season with better procurement prices.

However, within days, the middlemen stopped buying the cotton making the demand for procurement slip low. Citing there was no demand in the market, the farmers were asked to sell the cotton per quintal at the rate of Rs 9,000 and reduced it down to Rs 8,000, and now say that they can buy a quintal of cotton only at the rate of Rs 7,000.

Sensing the middlemen are taking them for a raid creating an artificial shortage of demand, the farmers stopped selling the cotton at the throwaway prices cited by the private persons. And, continue to store the cotton in their homes which are now facing the threat of getting infested with pests and turning black colour.

Not selling their crop further pushes them into financial difficulties as they are not in a position to clear their bank loans. Against this backdrop, they wanted the state government and the authorities concerned to come to their rescue to ensure they get appropriate prices for the cotton.