Member of Parliament from Adilabad Soyam Bapu Rao on Saturday assured cotton farmers of raising in Parliament the issue of the rule that dictates pricing of the produce as per the moisture content. He said farmers were losing a lot owing to the rule, which provides for deduction in the price based on the percentage of moisture in cotton.
Addressing newsmen here, the MP said he will also take the matter up with Union Agriculture Minister. He said he will make a plea for raising the moisture limit from 8 % to 12 % to 18 % to 20 % for the produce which the Cotton Corporation of India (CCI) purchases as part of its minimum support price operation.
It may be added here that Mr. Bapu Rao called on Chairperson and Managing Director of CCI P. Alli Rani with the same request a few days back. She, however, said the rule is in implementation across the cotton growing areas in the country.
Explaining the moisture rule and the difficulty it causes to farmers, the MP said cotton coming from first pickings had a very high natural moisture content. This made it liable to be rejected by CCI and make the farmers prone for exploitation by private traders.
