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Telangana stands third in cotton production: Centre

Telangana produces 5079.71 bales in 2023-24

Hyderabad: After Gujarat and Maharashtra, Telangana stood in third place with respect to production of cotton in the country. Telangana produced 5079.71 bales in 2023-24 as against 5744.62 bales in 2022-23 and 4878.06 bales in 2021-22.

Gujarat stood in first place with 9056.99 bales production in 2023-24, while 8795.33 bales in 2022-23 and 7509.34 bales in 2021-22. Maharashtra was in second place with cotton production of 8045.49 bales in 2023-24, while 8315.67 bales in 2022-23 and 8249.24 bales in 2021-22.

In all, as many as 32,522.02 bales of cotton were produced in the country in 2023-24.

Replying to a question on cotton production raised by half a dozen MPs in Lok Sabha on Tuesday, Union Minister of State for Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Ramnath Thakur said that during 2023-24, 32.84 lakh bales of cotton were procured by Cotton Corporation of India (CCI) under Minimum Support Price (MSP) operations.

Due to better price realisation in domestic sales and no price parity in exports, there was no offtake in the export market.

Currently, there are no restrictions on exports of cotton from India, and the Central government does not import Cotton. However, local traders import cotton independently and there is no mandate from the Central government to do so and control the prices.

The MSP for cotton provides a safety net for farmers as they are assured of getting at least MSP for their produce. It is recommended by the Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices (CACP) every year based on the formula of 1.5 times the cost of production so as to ensure reasonably fair remuneration i.e. at least 50 per cent over cost of production to farmers.

To provide the benefits of the MSP scheme and ensure reasonable prices to the cotton farmers, the CCI has opened 507 procurement centres in 152 districts of 12 cotton growing States including nine procurement centres in Amravati district and 15 procurement centres in Yavatmal district in Maharashtra.


( Source : Deccan Chronicle )
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