In this background, the Central government enhanced the MSP from в‚№ 5,825 per quintal last year to в‚№ 6,025 a quintal for long staple cotton which is commonly grown in Telangana. At the national level, the acreage shrunk from 320 lakh acres to 290 lakh acres. The yield was also likely to drop from 48 lakh tonnes last year to 37 lakh tonnes, mainly due to heavy rains of August and September. The cotton acreage fell in Telangana from 60 lakh acres last year to 46.25 lakh acres this year. At the same time, the demand for cotton shot up in international market as garment factories resumed full-scale operations after suffering huge losses on account of COVID last year. The area of cultivation as well as yield dropped not only in India but across the world. A clear picture would emerge after Deepavali.ДЄctually, nothing went right for cotton crop right from the beginning of the sowing season due to heavy rains. However, the arrival at market yards was low because the farmers had expectedly hoarded the produce in expectation of further hike in prices. Lakshmi Bai, the trend of high prices for farmers kicked off straight away with the opening of purchase on October 1. Otherwise, the cotton juggernaut purchased 80 to 90 per cent of the produce in 2019-21.ДЄccording to Marketing Director G. The CCI which enters procurement by setting up centres across the State only when the prices fall below MSP has, therefore, left the market operations to private mills. They even expected the prices to go up to в‚№ 8,500 to в‚№9,000 a quintal in the coming days. This trend was likely to continue for the entire procurement season till December-end as per the assessments of the Cotton Corporation of India (CCI) and ginning mill owners. Cotton farmers have a lot to cheer as they are fetching up to в‚№ 8,000 so far against a minimum support price of в‚№ 6,025 a quintal this year.

Cry of fear nightmare mode