Cotton farmers in Tamil Nadu are unable to benefit from the Minimum Support Price (MSP) operations of the Cotton Corporation of India (CCI) as cotton cultivation is mainly in districts that do not have cotton processing facilities closeby.
A cotton farmer at Tiruvarur, Ravichandran, said the CCI, which is mandated to procure cotton whenever prices fall below the MSP, has not procured even a single kg of cotton in Tamil Nadu since 2021. “This betrayal has left cotton farmers so disheartened that many of us have resolved not to grow cotton again unless these market-related issues are resolved,” he said.
Mr. Ravichandran points out that MSP is not the ceiling, but only the bare minimum price that a farmer must receive. “What is the use of innovating, adopting modern technologies, and working hard if our produce is denied even this basic support?,” he asks.
CCI Chairman and Managing Director Lalit Kumar Gupta said the CCI has notified nine procurement centres in Tamil Nadu. However, it is unable to buy cotton from the farmers at MSP. There are two main issues in the State - cotton that is grown on nearly 70,000 hectares is spread across nearly 19 districts and the ginning factories are located 100 to 200 km away. The MSP operation does not permit the cost of transport of the cotton to the factories. The transport cost from the marketing yard to the nearest ginning factory works out to nearly ₹500 a quintal.
The main requirements for a CCI procurement centre are: cotton cultivation should be on minimum 3,000 ha in a particular taluk or mandal and there should be a ginning factory within 20 km radius, he said.
Andhra Pradesh supported its farmers with the transportation cost and the Tamil Nadu government should also do so for the benefit of its cotton growers, said sources in the cotton sector. Tamil Nadu produces nearly five lakh bales of cotton annually.
