Adilabad cotton farmers rely on migrant labour as costs rise

Cotton farmers in Adilabad are depending on migrant labourers from Maharashtra, Odisha, and Chhattisgarh to harvest their crop due to a shortage of local workers. Already burdened by restrictions from the Cotton Corporation of India, which refuses to buy cotton with moisture content above 12 percent, farmers are incurring heavy losses.

Adilabad: Cotton farmers are relying on labourers from Maharashtra, Odisha and other neighbouring States to harvest their crop due to a shortage of local farm workers.

Growers of cotton, regarded as white gold, are already facing difficulties in selling their produce because of restrictions imposed by the Cotton Corporation of India. Farmers said they are being forced to sell to private traders as the corporation is refusing to purchase cotton with moisture content higher than 12 percent, causing heavy losses.

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Adding to their woes, farmers are struggling to pick cotton bolls. They said they were depending on migrant labourers by paying higher charges than those sought by workers from Telangana. They disclosed that they were paying Rs 12 per kg of cotton to labourers from Maharashtra as against Rs 10 per kg collected by local labourers.

Farmers said the cost of harvesting has risen due to hiring labourers from other States, and the increased expenditure is affecting their profits. They said they are unable to make the kind of returns they earned in previous years from the commercial crop.

Farmers are also approaching middlemen to bring labourers from Maharashtra, Odisha and Chhattisgarh, paying commissions and transportation charges. Middlemen have been sending workers to several parts of Telangana located along the Maharashtra border. The labourers said they were securing only marginal income by picking cotton.

Meanwhile, migrant labourers are camping on the outskirts of villages in makeshift tents. They arrive in rural areas carrying utensils and travelling in auto rickshaws and tractors with their children, considering the temporary livelihood opportunity. They return to their native States once the harvesting season ends.