Telangana urges CCI to reconsider moisture level in cotton for procurement

Hyderabad: Agriculture Minister S Niranjan Reddy has requested the Cotton Corporation of India (CCI) to review the current stipulation of 12 per cent moisture level while procuring cotton.

The Minister who arrived in Mumbai on a four-day official visit met the CCI Chairman and Managing Director Pradeep Kumar Agarwal on Tuesday.

Niranjan Reddy said that the cotton has been exposed to unseasonal rains that lashed the State recently. Against this backdrop, he urged the CCI to consider a review of its current stipulation of 12 per cent moisture level for the procurement of cotton.

Further, he informed Pradeep Kumar that Telangana has 40 per cent share in the total cotton procurement in the country and warehousing facilities in Telangana has been piled up with 49.56 lakh bales of cotton procured during 2019-20. Out of this, only 9.28 lakh bales of cotton have been moved. Considering the current situation, Niranjan Reddy asked the CCI official to shift the old stocks to facilitate the storage of new cotton stocks going to come during the current procurement season.

He thanked the CCI for assuring to procure all the cotton produced in Telangana. The Agriculture Minister said that the new software developed in the State for procurement would become a role model. Further, he said that State government was willing to establish a cotton research centre in Adilabad and urged the CCI to extend its cooperation for the same.

The CCI CMD appreciated the efforts made by the Telangana CM and Agriculture Minister for the increase in number of ginning and cotton processing mills in the State. Later, the Minister has also met NABARD Chairman Dr Govindarajulu Chintala.