Maharashtra cotton growers demand MSP of Rs 6000 per quintal

01 Sep '11

2 min read

Maharashtra State Co-operative Cotton Growers Marketing Federation Ltd (MSCCGMFL) has demanded that the Minimum Support Price (MSP) for cotton be raised to Rs. 6000 per quintal.

Speaking at press conference in Yavatmal, NP Hirani, Chairman of MSCCGMFL, revealed that two resolutions were passed at a recently held meeting of the Board of Director's of the Federation in Mumbai.

Besides the resolution on raising the cotton MSP to Rs. 6,000 per quintal, the meeting urged the Government to permanently withdraw the ban on cotton exports by covering it under the open general license (OGL) scheme.

Validating his demand for increase in the MSP, Mr. Hirani stated that the price of seeds, insecticides and fertilizers have risen manifold during the past few years and also cited the currently prevailing labour charges at Rs. 200-300 per head.

In 2007-08, the Government fixed the cotton MSP at Rs. 3,000 per quintal which, after a gap of four years, was hiked by just Rs. 300 in 2010-11.

Mr. Hirani said that the Federation urges the Government to discontinue with its practice of frequently changing its decision with regards to allowing or disallowing cotton exports, as this would only defeat the Government's very objective of sustaining the crop cultivators.

For 2010-11 cotton season, the Government had initially granted approval for exporting only 5.5 million bales of cotton, but subsequently raised this limit further by one million bales to 6.5 million bales. This brought in volatility in the market causing the world cotton prices to fluctuate between Rs. 60,000 per candy to Rs. 35,000 per candy.

The Federation Chief said that in case if there arises any shortage of cotton in the market, the textile sector may introduce apt measures to counter the deficit. He recommended that the current system of extending cotton export every two months should be removed and the OGL system should be introduced permanently.

Mr. Hirani said MSCCGMFL would start purchasing cotton in first week of November.

Fibre2fashion News Desk - India

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