More area under cotton cultivation expected this season in District Mansa

Amid labour shortage, Agriculture dept encouraging farmers to opt for cotton cultivation

5 Dariya News

Mansa 09-May-2020

With the Cotton Corporation of India (CCI) stepped in the district markets to directly purchase the cotton produce from the farmers, the Mandi and Agriculture officials are expecting an increase in the cotton area in the district this season.As per the data procured from the District Mandi Office, 1057997 quintals cotton arrived this season as compare to the  907023 quintals in the last season. The arrival increased by 17%.District Mandi Officer-cum-State Cotton Co-ordinator Rajnish Goel said that following the concerted efforts by the District Administration Mansa and Punjab Mandi Board, the Cotton Corporation of India (CCI) has resumed the direct purchase of the cotton from the farmers in the district. He said that with the intervention of CCI in the market, the farmers have started getting price of their produce on par to the Minimum Support Price (MSP) of Rs 5450 per quintal, while earlier they were selling their produce not more than Rs 5100 per quintal.Goel, however, said that the price of the cotton depends on the quality of the produce and majority of farmers have not got less than Rs 5400 per quintal for their produce, which is at least Rs 250-300 higher than what they were getting earlier. As per the information, the CCI has purchased 449164 quintals of cotton from the Mansa district this season, while, 608828 quintal crop was purchased by private players.

Labour Dearth Another Factor

Agriculture officials, who are also expecting an increase in the cotton cultivation area this season said that they are encouraging farmers to opt for the cotton cultivation to make up for an acute shortage of labour in the wake of the Coronavirus (Covid-19).Chief Agriculture Officer (CAO) Dr Ram Saroop said that last season, the area under the cotton crop was 54000 hectare against the target of 72000 hectares, while this season, the target was set at one lakh hectare under cotton cultivation.He said that they are expecting that farmers will opt for cotton as they had harvested good produce and earned good profit this season, while labour shortage is another factor.Meanwhile, the CCI had not directly purchased cotton from over the last five years.