80% cotton arrivals sold below MSP

Kheta Ram, a small farmer from Dharampura village in Abohar, is distraught. Fearing a sharp decline in cotton prices before the mandis get flooded with what was once referred to as “white gold”, he was amongst the first to have picked up the crop and sold it in the mandi.

As against the minimum support price (MSP) of Rs 7,710 per quintal for his medium long staple cotton, he got just Rs 5,151 per quintal. “I had taken four acres on lease to grow cotton. Now, I have suffered a huge loss because my crop sold Rs 2,559 per quintal below the MSP. I will have to think of cultivating the MSP-guaranteed wheat paddy next year,” he rued.

Kheta Ram is not the only cotton farmer in Punjab who is thinking of leaving cotton cultivation. An astounding 80 per cent of the cotton purchased so far in the state has been bought at rates below the MSP, according to the state government’s own data.

Of the 6,078 quintals of cotton purchased in mandis of Fazilka, Bathinda, Mansa and Muktsar, 4,867 quintals has been purchased below the MSP with minimum rates of purchase ranging from Rs 4,500 to Rs 5,900 per quintal in these districts.

The reason for the crop selling below the MSP is that so far the government procurement agency, Cotton Corporation of India (CCI), has not started making any cotton purchase. The entire cotton purchase so far has been done by private players, including cotton ginners and traders. As of date, 11,218 quintals of cotton has arrived in the state’s mandis.

Information available with The Tribune shows that this year, cotton was cultivated on 1.19 lakh hectares. But the floods that hit the state in August-September damaged cotton crop on 12,100 hectares. Even the other cotton-growing areas not ravaged by the floods have seen high moisture content in the crop.

Dr Bhagirath Chaudhary from South Asia Biotechnology Centre, which does extensive work on promoting cotton, said that because of the floods in Punjab, the strength of cotton crop was less than the prescribed limit and the moisture content was higher than the prescribed limit of eight per cent. “As a result, the growers are being paid very low prices by private traders. We have written to the CCI to start making purchases to alleviate the economic crisis of growers,” he said.

Balkar Singh, a farmer from Khiali Chahianwali village in Mansa, who is also the vice-president of BKU Ekta Dakaunda, said that yesterday, cotton growers in Mansa mandi protested after the price offered by private players ranged from Rs 5,300 to Rs 6,800 per quintal. “Where will the farmers go when the CCI refuses to enter the market? That is why the farmers’ demand of guaranteed purchase of crops on MSP — the way it is done for wheat and paddy — should be met by the government,” he reasoned.

Rajnish Jain, a commission agent in Maur, who deals in cotton, said that the traders were unwilling to pay higher prices because the moisture content was quite high because of the untimely rain.