Hyderabad: In response to the ginning mills’ announcement of a strike from November 17, Telangana Agriculture Minister Tummala Nageswara Rao has taken swift action on Friday to prevent disruption in cotton procurement and protect farmers from further hardship.
The Minister has directed the Agriculture Secretary to initiate urgent talks with representatives of ginning mills, who have expressed dissatisfaction with the Cotton Corporation of India’s (CCI) procurement regulations, particularly the L1 and L2 norms. These rules, they claim, are causing operational losses and making cotton procurement unviable.
Minister Tummala emphasised that the concerns of ginning mills must be escalated to the CCI Managing Director and that the state government will exert pressure on Central authorities to resolve the issue. He acknowledged the challenges faced by farmers due to untimely rains and restrictive CCI policies, such as the moisture content limit and the cap of 7 quintals per acre, which have made selling cotton increasingly difficult.
“The ginning mills’ decision to halt procurement at a time when moisture levels are finally dropping will only worsen the situation for farmers,” the Minister said. He urged mill representatives to continue purchasing cotton while the state government works to address their grievances. Tummala also revealed that ginning mill representatives had previously written to the Union Textiles Minister and the CCI MD but received no response.
