Telangana: Farmers, Rythu Sangham stage protest demanding cotton procurement

Farmers and Telangana Rythu Sangham protested in Khammam, urging CCI to relax cotton purchase rules. They cited low yields due to heavy rains, pending paddy bonuses, and non-implementation of crop insurance

Khammam: Farmers and Telangana Rythu Sangham leaders staged a protest at the District Collectorate here on Friday demanding Cotton Corporation of India (CCI) to relax the rules for purchasing cotton.

Sangham district secretary Bonthu Rambabu said the rules of the CCI were causing serious problems for cotton farmers. The rules such as Kisan Kapas app registration, the requirement of 8 to 12 per cent moisture content and seven quintals per acre limit should be lifted immediately, he demanded.

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Even though cotton yields were very low due to heavy rains, the CCI had imposed restrictions on the purchase of cotton produce. Even as Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy announced that all types of crops were damaged due to incessant heavy rains in Telangana, agricultural officials in Khammam district were not carrying out a survey to assess crop loss, Rambabu said.

He also demanded the State government to release pending bonus of Rs 63 crore for fine variety paddy purchased in the Rabi season and deposit it in the bank accounts of the farmers.

Sangham district president Madineni Ramesh said the Central and State governments should provide compensation to the farmers as a collective responsibility. Tenant farmers had suffered serious losses in the season and non-implementation of the crop insurance scheme in Telangana was causing irreparable injustice to the farmers, he said.