Cotton farmers on Friday staged agitations demanding Rs 7,000 per quintal (100kg) for their produce. The rate declared by the Central government is Rs 4,050. If the government does not meet their demand and does not start procuring cotton immediately, farmers will launch state-wide chakka-jam (blocking highways) agitations soon.
Shivaji Patil, farmers leader, told dna that the input cost of cotton had gone up manifold. "We cannot afford to sell cotton at Rs 4,050 per quintal because our input cost is much more. We have to spend a lot on fertiliser, chemicals, labour, etc. The rate of the crop should be hiked as per inflation ratio. If the govt had money to implement the fifth and sixth pay commission for its employees, why are farmers not being paid decent prices for their produce? Besides, this year due to poor monsoon, production of cotton has gone down. The Centre and state governments should immediately declared Rs 7,000 per qunital as cotton procurement rate. Otherwise, we will start chakka-jam agitations across the state," Patil said.
Patil also said the Centre should either ban or put a cap on import of cotton. "Traders and textiles mills imported huge quantities of cotton this year. Once cap is put on import, the prices of local cotton will automatically escalate. Otherwise, more farmer suicides would be reported this year," Patil added.
Vijay Jawandia, a farmer leader from Vidarbha, told dna that there was slowdown in international cotton market. "As a result, there are few takers for Indian cotton. Currently, farmers are compelled to sell cotton at Rs 3,600-3,900 per quintal. BJP when it was in the opposition, had demanded Rs 6,000 per qunital. BJP leader Eknath Khadse, who is now the state agriculture minister, had stated in the assembly that the party would not allow the house to function if farmers were not paid this rate. Another BJP leader, Girish Mahajan, had started a month-long hunger strike to make government pay good rate for cotton. Now, where are these BJP leaders?" asked Jawandia.
He said prime minister Modi had also promised during the Lok Sabha election campaign that if BJP came to power, the minimum support price would be hiked substantially to enable farmers to make 50% profit each year.
"As per Modi's calculations, cotton rate should be Rs 5,200 per quintal today. If BJP continues to dilly dally on agricultural policies and rates, farmers in Vidarbh-Maratha-Khandesh region will suffer a loss of Rs 20,000 crore this year. The government should declared the region drought-hit. Last year, to compensate the losses suffered due to hailstorms, the Cong-NCP government paid farmers Rs 10,000 per hector. The BJP government should now give at least Rs 15,000 per hector as compensations to drought-affected farmers," said Jawandia.
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