Cotton Federation urges Govt to allow pvt traders to procure non-FAQ cotton
   Date :18-Apr-2020

Cotton Federation_1 
 
 
Staff Reporter :
 
The procurement of fair average quality (FAQ) cotton by Maharashtra State Co-operative Cotton Growers Marketing Federation Limited (Cotton Federation) has come to a halt since lockdown announced in the wake of COVID-19 outbreak. Due to lockdown, non-FAQ grade cotton, which comes in the market in March, also is lying with farmers who are waiting for procurement to begin. Against this backdrop, Cotton Federation has urged the State Government to allow private traders to procure non-FAQ cotton. In Maharashtra, cotton was cultivated in 43.84 lakh hectares of area.
 

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This included 18 lakh hectares in Vidarbha, and 26 lakh hectares in Marathwada and Khandesh regions. Anantrao Deshmukh, Chairman of Cotton Federation, told ‘The Hitavada’ over telephone that the federation was acting as sub-agent of Cotton Corporation of India (CCI) for cotton procurement. The procurement of FAQ grade cotton started in Maharashtra on November 27, 2019. Till March 23, 2020, that is, just before the nation-wide lockdown was announced in the wake of COVID-19 outbreak, the federation procured 54.07 lakh quintals of FAQ grade cotton from farmers. The total worth of this cotton was Rs 2,947 crore, he said. CCI procured 90 lakh quintal, and some private traders also procured FAQ grade cotton from farmers. “As is the situation, Cotton Federation procured most of the FAQ grade cotton available with farmers and only 25-30 lakh quintal may be still with farmers,” Deshmukh said.
 
The federation is willing to procure remaining FAQ grade cotton with farmers. As far as ginning is concerned, much of the procured cotton is yet to be ginned. Deshmukh spoke to Marketing Minister and urged to allow procurement as well as operation of ginning and pressing mills. Further, there is the issue of procurement of non-FAQ grade cotton. This cotton comes into market in March. As lockdown was announced, not much of this cotton could be procured. Around 70-80 lakh quintal of non-FAQ grade cotton must be lying with farmers, Deshmukh said. According to him, the federation was authorised to procure only FAQ grade cotton from farmers. Hence, Deshmukh urged the State Government to allow private traders to procure non-FAQ grade cotton, and to start ginning and pressing mills. “We are giving a formal letter to State Government in this regard on Saturday,” he said. Even if the Government allows procurement of remaining FAQ grade cotton, there may be issues with maintaining social distancing at procurement centres.
 
The Chairman of the federation said that each vehicle carrying cotton engaged at least six or seven persons including staff and labourers. All of them work at a close distance for inspecting quality of cotton, grading, etc. At ginning mills too, there may arise some problems as labourers have gone home and they will have to be called. In that case, the Government will have to issue passes to them to travel from their village to mills. Similar passes will have to be issued to graders coming from other places. Deshmukh said, “We have thought about these issues but solution will have to be found out. We request the Government to take measures to tide over crisis.”
 
Jawandhiya urges Govt to start procurement after April 20 Vijay Jawandhiya, noted farm activist, has urged the State Government to start procurement of cotton from April 20 and provide relief to farmers. Jawandhiya told ‘The Hitavada’ that he had sent a letter to Uddhav Thackeray, Chief Minister of Maharashtra, urging him to ensure 100 per cent procurement of cotton through CCI/NAFED. Owing to COVID-19 crisis, he said, slowdown has hit the global economy. The export of fibre and cotton has come to a halt. The rates in New York cotton trade have come down from 75-80 cent per pound to 60-62 cent per pound. Poultry industry also is affected and it has resulted in slashing of soyabean prices. Against this backdrop, Jawandhiya said, farmers in India and Maharashtra are not getting even the minimum support price for cotton, Tur, soyabean, wheat, and gram. He informed Devendra Fadnavis, former Chief Minister and Leader of Opposition in State Legislative Assembly, about the situation and urged him to make a request to Central Government to procure farm produce at minimum support price across the country. As far as cotton is concerned, Jawandhiya pointed out that with temperature rising this month it was risky for farmers to keep cotton stacked at their homes. Hence, he urged Thackeray, State Government should announce procurement of all cotton with farmers at support price through CCI/NAFED. Such procurement of cotton took place in Maharashtra in 2008. Hence, the Government should start cotton procurement after April 20 and also acquire ginning and pressing mills to provide relief to farmers, he added.