Sonepur: Discontentment is brewing among cotton farmers in Sonepur district as price of their produce has been plummeting in the market, thanks to the apathy of district administration as it has failed to open even a single cotton procurement centre in the district, a report said.
As the district received above normal rainfall this monsoon, farmers had hoped to get a good yield and better profit. Though their yield was good yet the farmers are now struggling to get even the bare minimum, forget profit, for their produce as the middlemen are not ready to pay the actual price of their produce.
Farmers have blamed their distressed situation on the laidback attitude of the district administration and the faulty procurement policy of the Cotton Corporation of India.
As per the 2019 government report, farmers of Birmaharajapur, Ulunda, Taravha and Sonepur blocks have cultivated cotton in 4,500 hectares of land. The blocks have achieved the record of growing highest coverage of cotton in the district. But farmers of the block alleged that they find it difficult to sell their produce at decent price. They are still waiting for their produce to be sold in the MSP.
Known as ‘white gold’, cotton has been considered an alternative cash crop in the district over the last two decades. Blocks like Birmaharajapur and Ullunda are famous for cotton farming in the district.
Farmers of the district depend on subsistence agriculture. The major contribution to their livelihoods is from farm activities like cultivation of paddies and cotton. As the environment and black soil of the district are suitable for cotton farming, most of the farmers choose farming as their primary occupation and they have been doing the same since 1980s.
But in the absence of any procurement centre, cotton farmers in the district have resorted to distress sale of their produce. Cashing in on the situation, traders and private agencies have started buying cotton from farmers at throwaway prices. Some farmers lamented that though mandis have been opened at Badakhamar under Birmaharajapur Regulated Market Committee yet there is no staff and miller to procure them.
“As there are no proper procurement centres in the district, private agencies find it easy to bargain with us for a price they wish,” rued a farmer. Without marketing facilities for their produce, farmers have no way but to sell their produce to middlemen and Andhra traders at throwaway prices. Andhra traders are taking full advantage of the situation and are camping here to lift cotton at lower rates.
While the Centre has raised the minimum support price (MSP) of cotton from Rs 5,255 to Rs 5,555 per quintal, farmers sell it at Rs 4,000 per quintal to middlemen, incurring a loss of over Rs 1,500.
With the majority of farmers availing both institutional and private loans for cotton cultivation, they are in a hurry to repay the loans and avoid higher interest costs. But they are unable to repay them with marginal price of their produce.
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To give a financial boost to the weavers’ families and cotton farmers, the state government opened a spinning mill in the district in 1980. After the privatisation of the spinning mill, the mill has become worthless for the cotton farmers as it is procuring cotton from traders outside the state at lower prices. Though cotton worth crores is cultivated in the district yet in the absence of marketing facilities and support from Cotton Corporation of India, farmers have failed to gain from the ‘golden crop’. They have demanded that the government should take corrective measures to set things right.