The State Government has targeted procurement of 33.2 lakh metric tonnes of cotton during the current year.
This is almost double the previous marketing year’s (2020-21) yield of 17.89 lakh metric tonnes, which was procured from 5.49 lakh farmers with an estimated value of ₹10,167 crore, Agriculture Minister S. Niranjan Reddy told the Legislative Assembly.
Replying to a query during the Question Hour on Friday, he said the State was ranked number one in the country in terms of quality of cotton and second in the area under cultivation. The government had notified 376 ginning mills across the State as cotton procurement centres in addition to providing online cotton software procurement system for minimum support price operations for the year 2021-22.
Steps were taken to create awareness among farmers on maintaining fair average quality for securing MSP. The State was first in the country in terms of cotton procurement by the Cotton Corporation of India. Though it was expected that cotton would be cultivated in around 65 lakh to 70 lakh acres, delay in the start of rains and shifting of a section of farmers to paddy led to decline in the cultivation as well as production.
The State would continue to encourage cotton cultivation as the quality of cotton cultivated in the State commanded high demand in the international and domestic markets.
