Telangana: Adilabad farmers fear procurement of cotton will be stopped soon

Farmers alleged that the CCI and State government were intentionally not taking steps to address the glitches in Aadhaar servers

Adilabad: Challenges continue to haunt cotton farmers across Telangana in the rule of the Congress. They are now facing the unprecedented stalemate in procurement of the cotton produce by Cotton Corporation of India (CCI). They fear that the process might be stopped citing the glitches in Aadhaar servers.

The procurement of the cotton produce came to grinding halt following glitches in servers of Aadhaar for the past few days. Officials of the CCI and the marketing department are blaming each other for the delay in addressing the problem. They are unable to disclose the time to be taken for resolving the glitches and restoring the procurement, indicating the gloomy scenario.

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The farmers alleged that the CCI and State government were intentionally not taking steps to address the glitches servers. They feared that the glitches would be cited as a reason to end the process of the procurement. They accused the corporation and the State of showing negligence in resolving the glitches.

“When we enquired owners of ginning mills, it was learnt that the procurement would be stopped soon. The CCI and the State government are not interested in avoiding inconvenience to the farmers caused by delay in procurement of the cotton. The growers are facing the situation for the first time in recent times,” Mallaiah, a farmer from Asifabad said.

Due to a stoppage of the process of procurement, the farmers were forced to wait at the procurement centres for five days in a row. They are camping at the cotton-laden trucks, tractors, vans and bullock carts, hoping that the servers would be restored, allowing them to sell their produce and helping them make profits.

Some farmers who could not afford to wait for long due to personal engagements and medical emergencies, were left with no option but to sell the cotton to private traders with the impasse that continues to hit the procurement. They are disposing of their produce for a considerably lower price than the minimum support price fixed by the CCI. They regretted that they were registering losses in cultivating the cotton.

It may be recalled that the farmers had formed serpentine queue lines to buy the cotton seeds in the beginning of the agriculture season in Adilabad district in May. Policemen were deployed to control the crowds at the time of purchasing the seeds. They faced inconvenience in selling cotton produce following insufficient procurement centers.

Of late, the growers of the commercial crop are struggling to sell the cotton produce grown, enduring odds such as inordinate delay in extending Rythu Bharosa crop investment support and full-fledged crop loan waiver by the Congress government. They are reeling under a financial crisis which is driving some of them to end life by either consuming pesticide or hanging.

Cotton cultivation in Adilabad

Cotton raised in erstwhile Adilabad: 10.15 lakh acres

Expected yield: 71.05 lakh quintals

Market yards: 18

Procurement centres in Adilabad: 24

Total cotton procured so far: 27.07 lakh quintals

Cotton procured by CCI: 25.41 lakh quintals

Cotton purchased by private traders: 1.67 lakh quintals

Initial MSP per quintal: Rs 7,521

Current MSP per quintal: Rs 7,421

Ginning mills in erstwhile Adilabad: 71