The new agriculture law, which allows farmers to sell their produce anywhere in the country, has come as a bolt from the blue for cotton farmers in Adilabad district as produce brought from other districts by ‘middlemen’ is given priority in purchase while local farmers are kept at bay.
The middlemen are having a field day as they were prevailing in disposing the produce they procured from ‘outside’ farmers on ‘commission basis’, and locals are waiting for their turn with tokens in their hands.
Farmers are alleging that post Diwali, a large quantity of cotton from Gandhari and other parts of erstwhile Nizamabad district is seen at agriculture market yard in the town with middlemen, in collusion with officials of the Cotton Corporation of India (CCI), playing a key role.
“They (middlemen) are procuring cotton from Nizamabad and other places for a commission of ₹500 to ₹1,000 per quintal and selling it in Adilabad, while the CCI is rejecting our cotton on the grounds of high moisture content,” a farmer from Jainath mandal said.
The Corporation is also rejecting the local produce as the length of the cotton ball was reportedly less than 30 mm this season and slashed the minimum support price.
“It has become a major issue now. The CCI is not supposed to purchase cotton from other market circles and local farmers are suffering due to their decision,” senior farmer leader B. Govardhan Reddy told The Hindu. He said that they have sent a list of local farmers to CCI from whom they should procure cotton.
“When they are not purchasing from tenant farmers, how come their system allows them to purchase cotton from other districts with middlemen getting the produce to market,” he questioned.
Mr. Reddy said that a large number of mini trucks from Nizamabad are coming to Adilabad market.
When contacted CCI’s cotton purchase officer Rayapati Purnachandra Rao said they were purchasing the cotton as per the government norms and the MSP was directly sent to farmers’ bank accounts. He refused to comment on middlemen intervention in the market.
