Cotton farmers in distress: YSRCP

Hyderabad, December 19: YSR Congress has demanded the State Government to give adequate price to cotton farmers as they are in distress and are being exploited by traders with the Cotton Corporation of India (CCI) being unresponsive to their needs. 

“Cotton production has increased in the State but the productivity has come down as the input costs have increased drastically and at times it is more than cost of yield,” YSRCP Farmers Cell Convenor MVS Nagi Reddy told reporters here on Wednesday. 

CCI, which has come to keep a check on middlemen, has been siding with them and ignoring the interests of farmers, he said adding that traders are buying cheap from farmers and selling to CCI at the Government price. 

CCI has been discouraging farmers on one ground or the other and are forced to sell their produce to the middlemen and during the recent past there have been dharnas at many market yards. 

We demand the government to come to the rescue of farmers as the cost of production has increased drastically during the past three years and the situation is driving the farmers into financial crisis. 

“In the present situation the cost of production has increased to Rs 5,000 per quintal while the MSP is Rs 3,900 and farmers are resorting to distress sale and traders are buying for Rs 3,000 and less. YS Jagan Mohan Reddy’s demand for a Rs 3,000 crore Market Stabilisation Fund will help the farmers to come out from such pathetic situation,” he said. 

Three fourth’s of the cotton yield comes from Telangana region and farmers are at a loss and driven to debt , he said adding that the government has decreased the extent of land while allocating input subsidy and the farmers are being cheated. 

The crisis arose with the increase in the extent of land under cultivation and hike in input cost thus bringing down the productivity. While in 
Gujarat and other states cotton crops have fallen but in Andhra Pradesh it has gone up but no proper measures are being taken to address the crisis, he said.