Hyderabad: Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao urged farmers not to sow cotton crop in the state and instead opt for alternate crops. He said cotton industry is in crisis across the world and farmers would suffer losses if they opt for cotton crops at this stage. The Telangana government has decided to take up an extensive campaign to discourage cotton farming and reduce farmer suicides after it was found that a majority of the farmers who committed suicide during the last two years in the state were cotton farmers, doing so due to indebtedness.
Mr Rao has decided to prepare an action plan during the collectors’ conference on April 29 to discourage cotton farming in Telangana. “Cotton prices have been falling world over. The Indian markets are also witnessing steep fall since the last few months. Unmindful of this, the farmers in the state are opting for cotton crops. This should be stopped as else they would suffer huge financial loss,” Mr Rao said, while reviewing the issue at his camp office on Sunday.
Mr Rao pointed out that the Centre had decided to increase export duty on cotton exports besides signing an accord at the WTO meeting held in Nairobi, promising to waive incentives on cotton exports. "All this will adversely affect cotton industry in the coming days and officials should gear up to devise measures to minimise this impact on farmers in Telangana," Mr Rao said.
