The Communist Party of India(Marxist) Telangana State committee has demanded that the State Government procure cotton from farmers providing a support price of ₹ 7,000 a quintal.
The Government should set up a cotton board on the lines of Maharashtra and procure cotton from farmers directly paying bonus factoring in the high cost of cultivation in Telangana. The party lamented that standing crop in several districts was damaged due to untimely rains that lashed the State recently and said the Government should assess the losses and provide compensation to affected farmers. The CPI(M) State secretariat, which met here on Saturday, said farmers opted for cotton cultivation on over 46 lakh acres this season in view of the Government’s failure to provide support price to red gram and pulses last season. Of these, crop on an extent of 30 lakh acres spread over 18 districts across the State suffered damage due to untimely rains. CPI(M) State secretary Tammineni Veerabhadram said traders were acting in collusion and denying support price to farmers on the pretext of high moisture content, absence of quality and other reasons. This was resulting in distress among farmers and some of them committed suicide.
The Government should initiate steps immediately to ensure that farmers’ produce was procured without the intervention of middlemen and it could seek the help of the Cotton Corporation of India in this direction.
