Andhra Pradesh cotton output to go up this season

24 Dec '12

2 min read

The southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh is expected to harvest around 700,000 bales (1 bale = 170 kg) of cotton during the current season, as against last year’s output of 650,000 bales, state Agriculture Minister K Lakshminarayana has said.

Speaking on the sidelines of the inaugural ceremony of Cotton Corporation of India’s (CCI) 10th procurement centre at the Guntur agricultural market yard, he said the CCI centres would procure cotton from the farmers at minimum support price, even if its quality has been affected by November rains.

The Minister further said that sensing panic sales in view of falling prices, CCI published advertisements in local newspapers assuring farmers that it would continue procuring their crops.

CCI General Manager SK Panigrahi said cotton is now being sold in open market at Rs. 3,700 per quintal, but they anticipate some hike in this price as quality of the crops arriving late would be better.

He noted that crop was sown late in Guntur, particularly in the uplands, and while it was almost ready for harvesting, it was hit by unseasonal heavy rains resulting from Nilam cyclone that struck during early November.

He said the Corporation is set to purchase half of the state’s cotton produce and hence, there is no reason for farmers to worry or sell in panic.

He informed that work at 120 ginning mills has already started.

By now CCI has already purchased 240,118 quintals of cotton, with highest procurement of 99,199 quintals from Piduguralla.

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