Cotton farmers seek more purchasing centres

Srikakulam: Cotton farmers of north coastal region are unhappy over inadequate arrangements by the Cotton Corporation of India (CCI) to procure cotton during the current season. The CCI set up only one centre to procure cotton from three districts of Srikakulam, Vizianagaram and Parvathipuram Manyam). The centre at Ramabhadrapuram near Saluru in Parvathipuram Manyam district is far away for farmers of Bhamini, Kotturu, Ponduru, G Sigadam, Laveru, Etcherla, Ranastalam, Santhakaviti, Palakonda, Burja, Sitampeta and other mandals in Srikakulam and two other districts in the north coastal AP. Due to the distance, farmers are not interested in carrying their produce to the cotton procurement centre at Ramabhadrapuram.

Cotton will be purchased at Rajam centre in Vizianagaram district soon, said assistant director for marketing for Vizianagaram district as regular charge and fully additional charge for Srikakulam district, B Ravi Kiran. He said cotton will be procured from farmers at government fixed minimum support price (MSP) of Rs 7,521 per quintal.

He also appealed to farmers not to sell their cotton to local traders and middlemen at a lower price. Marketing department is the nodal agency for monitoring cotton procurement from farmers through cotton purchase centres . Officials said a total 50 cotton purchasing centres were proposed jointly by the CCI and marketing department across the state. Of them, cotton procurement has started at 26 centre and will soon begin at the remaining 24 centres.

For selling cotton, the farmer must register crop details under the e-crop registration with the agricultural department. While selling produce, they have to submit photo copies of their Aadhaar card, pattadar passbook of the cultivated land, and bank account passbook. In the open market, cotton price per quintal is Rs 6,500 to Rs 6,700, which is less than the MSP fixed by the government.