Cotton procurement to start before Dasara: Nalgonda Collector

District Collector Prashant Jeevan Patil said farmers will start bringing cotton produce to the markets in October as cotton plucking had already started in some areas.

Nalgonda: District Collector Prashant Jeevan Patil on Tuesday directed the officials concerned to take up measures for opening of CCI purchase centres in the district as farmers had begun the process of cotton plucking.

Speaking at a meeting with officials of marketing, agriculture, legal metrology, fire department and representatives of ginning mills to discuss the action plan, he said farmers will start bringing cotton produce to the markets in October as cotton plucking had already started in some areas. He also instructed the officials to increase storage capacity of ginning mills and safety measures to be taken up at CCI centres and ginning mills. CCI officials should complete the tagging of 24 ginning mills and submit a report to the district administration.

He said cotton procurement will begin at seven CCI centres in Nalgonda, Miryalaguda, Devarakonda, Mall, Konda Mallepally, Chityal and Nakrekal before Dasara festival. The fire department officials should inspect the ginning mills and examine the fire safety measures taken up by their management.  Legal Metrology department officials should check weigh bridges and weighing machines and certify them before October 20. It was decided to purchase cotton through CCI until end of March and this may be extended by another 15 days if required. He cautioned that criminal cases would be filed against the managements of ginning mills if they tampered with weighing machines.

He instructed the officials of agriculture department to create awareness among the farmers to bring their cotton crop with CCI prescribed eight to 12 per cent of moisture content to get the Minimum Support Price.

District Agriculture Officer Sridhar informed that cultivation of cotton was taken up in 7.24 lakh acres by farmers this time against 6.84 lakh acres last year, registering an increase 40,000 acres. Subsequently, cotton production in the district can be expected to go up this, he said.

Additional District Collector (Revenue) V Chandrasekhar, Additional District Collector(Local Urban Bodies) Rahul Sharma and others were also attended the meeting.

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