Centre deceived cotton farmers: Rythu Sangam

Khammam: Telangana Rythu Sangam district secretary Bontu Rambabu said the support price announced for the Kharif season has been cut by Rs 100 out of Rs 7,020 at a time when the central government should support the cotton farmers who are suffering from reduced yield and retrievable price.

A delegation of Telangana Rythu Sangam on Sunday inspected Cotton Corporation of India (CCI) purchase centers in Khammam district and the cotton stored at farmers’ houses.

Telangana Rythu Sangam district president Madineni Ramesh and Bontu Rambabu said the price of cotton per quintal in the open market in the 2021 agricultural season should be Rs 13,000. Banners at CCI buying centres of Cotton Corporation of India in Khammam district said that in the 2022 and 2023 agricultural seasons, it would be less than Rs 7,000.

They said that this was causing more damage to the farmers. They alleged that the central government to make the Indian textile industry dependent on foreign imports rather than the domestic cotton. Due to unseasonal and heavy rains and cotton bug attack, the cotton yields had fallen significantly and the farmers were in a difficult situation, they added. They pointed out that the farmers who did not register themselves online with CCI buying centers of Cotton Corporation of India were facing difficulties in not being able to sell cotton.