CCI to purchase entire cotton crop from Telangana at MSP

Corporation to purchase the crop at MSP of Rs 5,825 per quintal, CMD assures Agriculture Minister

Hyderabad: Chairman and Managing Director of Cotton Corporation of India (CCI) Pradeep Kumar Agarwal assured Agriculture Minister Singireddy Niranjan Reddy on Tuesday that the corporation would purchase all the cotton produced in Telangana at the Minimum Support Price of Rs 5,825 per quintal.

The Minister, who is on a four-day official tour of Maharashtra, called on Agarwal and apprised him of the cotton production in the State during the current Vaanakalam season.

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Reddy also urged the CCI to increase the permitted moisture content in cotton considering the recent heavy rains in the State. At present, the CCI allows only 12 per cent of humidity in cotton fibre. “While the CCI has procured and stored 49.56 lakh bales of cotton from Telangana during 2019-20, it has only lifted 9.28 lakh bales so far. We request the CCI to lift the old stock immediately so that we can store the current year’s produce,” he said.
He impressed upon the CCI that Telangana was known for its high quality cotton and the software developed by the State for procurement of the fibre crop was one-of-its-kind in the country. He also requested the CMD to cooperate with Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao in setting up a Cotton Research Centre in Adilabad.

Stressing the need to take up research on cotton, he said Telangana accounted for 40 per cent of the total cotton procurement in the country. “The CCI purchased 105.1 lakh bales in the country and out of that, the share of Telangana was 41.8 lakh bales,” he said. He also urged the CMD to bring all the issues pertaining to cotton under the Ministry of Textiles.

The CCI CMD assured Reddy that they will take all the issues raised by the State into consideration. He appreciated the increase in the number of ginning and pressing mills in Telangana under the able leadership of Chandrashekhar Rao. Warehouse Corporation Chairman Mandula Samelu and Director marketing Lakshmi Bai also attended the meeting.

The Minister also met National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Nabard) Chairman GR Chintala at his office in Mumbai. He discussed several issues pertaining to the State with the Nabard Chairman.

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