Telangana: Cotton farmers worry as prices drop to 300 per quintal

Telangana: While incessant rains have damaged the cotton farmer's yields, traders are now looking to plunder the farmers by lowering prices. The quintal price was reduced alleging that the moisture content was high in cotton.

Traders and ginning mill owners slashed the price to Rs 300 as cotton arrivals opened to the market. The CCI has fixed a minimum support price of Rs 5,825 per quintal of cotton.

Before the launch of the cotton arrivals market, traders paid Rs 6,000 per quintal for cotton. Cotton has been cultivated in 60,22,113 acres in 32 districts of Telangana State.

The highest area in which cotton was cultivated is 7,29,115 acres in Nalgonda. Nizamabad farmers cultivate a minimum of 3,638 acres and Medchal 1,007 acres of cotton. At present, the moisture content of cotton across the State of Telangana is 15 to 31 per cent. An increase of one per cent in standard moisture will reduce the price paid by Rs 58.50 per quintal.

On Thursday and Friday, the amount has dropped by Rs 300 due to an average moisture content of 15 to 16 per cent. The CCI announced a bonus of Rs 58 per quintal to the farmer in addition to the purchase price, if there is six per cent moisture content found in their cotton.