Posts filed under ‘Cotton’
Market worry for cotton growers in Sonepur and Boudh districts
Following is a report from the Sambad:
Following is a report from the TNIE:
SONEPUR/BOUDH:Cotton crop grown in Sonepur and Boudh districts would be ready for harvest in next two months. But the farmers are a worried lot. In absence of an organised market for sale of their produce, they are left at the mercy of a spinning mill owner in Sonepur and middlemen.
Since Kolkata-based mill owner procures cotton at less than market price, the farmers have to travel to a cotton market in the neighbouring Balangir.This year, cotton has been grown over 3,000 hectares (ha) of land in Birmaharajpur, Ulunda and Tarbha blocks and some pockets of Sonepur. But, the district administration has made no effort to rope in agencies for procurement or open mandis.
While a decision was taken to open mandis two years back, there has been no headway in this direction. This has exposed the growers to middlemen who are on the prowl to purchase cotton at low price.
Although in a meeting of the District Level Monitoring Committee for Cotton presided by Sonepur Collector Dasarathi Satpathy held in October last year, it was decided that a cotton mandi would function under Regulated Market Committee (RMC) at Birmaharajpur, work on the structure and its godown is far from complete. Only after its completion, RMC can invite the Cotton Corporation of India (CCI) to open procurement centre at the mandi.
Earlier, due to the intervention of former Sonepur Collector Bhawani Shankar Panda, the spinning mill was procuring cotton at market rate and the purchase amount was directly deposited in the account of farmers. The arrangement was in place for three years till Panda retired in March this year. The farmers alleged that now the spinning mill owner is dictating terms as far as procurement is concerned and they are forced to travel all the way to Balangir to sell cotton at a mandi there. They said if the old system is put back in place, the procurement problem would be resolved.
The situation is no way different in Boudh where the farmers also sell their produce either at the Sonepur spinning mill or mandis in Balangir and Phulbani.The officials, however, said steps are being taken to streamline the procurement system. While Deputy Director of Agriculture, Sonepur, PK Samantray said RMC was working on developing a mandi at Birmaharajpur, secretary of the RMC Banamali Nayak said a godown is being constructed at Badkhamar village. Nayak said once the construction is complete, RMC would move the CCI for procurement of cotton.
Kalahandi farmers take to cotton
Following report is from express buzz:
BHAWANIPATNA: Poor rainfall till now this month has upset the paddy cultivators, but it’s boom time for non-paddy crops particularly cotton in Kalahandi. For the current kharif season, paddy cultivation has been taken up in 1,96,000 hectares. However, erratic monsoon has delayed the broadcasting process. The prevailing weather condition has also many farmers shift to non-paddy crops. Cotton cultivation has benefited the most. Against 26,315 hectares covered last season, cotton cultivation has been planned across 35,000 hectares this time around.
According to the Agriculture Department, the area under cotton cultivation already exceeded the departmental target of 8,244 hectares last year itself. There was bumper cotton crop supported by good market price. Farmers sold their produce between ` 3,400 and 6,000 a quintal. This has encouraged other farmers to venture into cotton cultivation and the new support price, declared by the Government, has come as an incentive.
These days, hoeing and earthing up works are on in the cotton fields along with sowing of seeds. A specialist in cotton, Narayan Upadhaya said that the weather conditions here suited cotton cultivation and it would exceed the projected target of the district. The black soil in Bhawanipatna, Kesinga and Golamunda blocks of the district besides Narla, Karlamunda, M.Rampur and Lanjigarh blocks are conducive for cotton cultivation, he added.
Farmers of Kalahandi worried over poor procurement of cotton
Following is a report from The Dharitri. This is one of the reasons why farmers are committing suicides. It is important to note that various news papers also report about trouble during procurement of paddy. What a farmer supposed to do in this situation? Why is the govt. not able to do help these farmers?
Uncertainty in procurement of cotton in Kalahandi
Following is a report from the expressbuzz.com:
Stage is set for cotton plucking in Kalahandi district and sources said cotton will be ready for marketing next week. However, farmers are a worried lot because of the uncertainty in procurement of cotton.
This year cotton is grown on 18,292 hectares and the agriculture department expects a yield of about 2. 2 lakh quintals. Last year the major procuring agent was Cotton Corporation of India (CCI) which procured 40 percent of the 2.06 lakh quintals harvested in the district. The rest was procured by some private firms who entered into an agreement with farmers under contract farming system and others who got licences to procure cotton at mandies.
But as these private traders failed to fulfil the terms and conditions of the MoU, it has been decided that there would be no contract farming this year. Also the private traders, who participate in the procurement at mandies, have not renewed their licences this year. To add to the uncertainty, this year CCI is planning to procure cotton only at its ginning mill sight at Kesinga.
This has caused concern among farmers. In the district-level cotton development committee meeting held here recently attended by farmer representatives, district-level officials, representative of Regulated Market Committee (RMC) and CCI and cotton traders, the farmer representatives expressing concern said the CCI should procure cotton from ‘mandi’ points because it will be difficult on the part of farmers to carry their products to Kesinga from far away places.
The meeting decided that four regular mandies and two temporary mandies of RMC will operate for smooth cotton procurement. But as the private traders are yet to renew their licences to participate in the procurement in the mandies, uncertainty prevails over procurement. Farmers of the district expect active intervention of CCI this year like last year to streamline the procurement process.
If the uncertainty prevails, market-watchers say it may lead to distress sale and farmer unrest.
Kosal Discussion and Development Forum 