After record sowing in cotton and paddy this kharif, Telangana is gearing up for the procurement season, with the Government lining up about 400 cotton procurement centres and over 3,000 paddy procurement centres in different parts of the State.
Cotton farmers went for sowing on a record 46 lakh acres, against the normal area of 41 lakh acres, despite the productivity challenges they faced last year, expecting minimum guarantee returns from the fibre crop.
The farmers, however, faced challenges, both in terms of pink bollworm attack and in selling the produce last year as the number of procurement centres was very small.
Telangana Irrigation and Marketing Minister T Harish Rao asked the officials of Cotton Corporation of India (CCI) to open 25 procurement centres by October 10.
While the Marketing Yards would buy cotton at about 100 centres, private ginning mills would open 288 centres by October 20. But the domination of ginning mills in procurement is attracting criticism from farmers.
A team of scientists from Prof Jayashankar Telangana State Agriculture University (PJTSAU) found that the ginning mills proved to be home for dormant pink bollworms that come with the produce from farmers. They found advancement of pink bollworm attack by a couple of months in some areas surrounding the ginning mills, triggering concerns among scientists and farmers.
Paddy procurement
With the farmers going for paddy on 24 lakh acres this kharif, which is slightly more than the normal area, and two lakh acres more than in the previous year, the State expects an output of 57 lakh tonnes.
“As against 18 lakh tonnes the State agencies procured last year, we target to procure 34 lakh tonnes this year,” Finance Minister Eatala Rajender said.
The procurement price for Grade-A paddy has been pegged at ₹1,750 a quintal.
A Government official said that as many as 3,140 paddy procurement centres would be opened as produce begins to arrive. While Primary Agricultural Cooperatives (PACs) would buy paddy by opening 1,800 procurement centres, about 1,100 Indira Kranthi Patham (IKP) centres too would buy the commodity. This would require 8.59 crore gunny bags.
Source: The Hindu Business Line, India Tuesday, 25 September 2018