Telangana wants CCI to start cotton procurement from Oct. 1
The Telangana government has appealed to Union Textiles Minister Giriraj Singh to make the Cotton Corporation of India (CCI) to start cotton procurement from October 1.
The State, which grew cotton on 17.52 lakh hectares, is expecting an output of 24.70 lakh tonnes of cotton. “Most of the cotton farmers are small and medium farmers. Their livelihood hinges on the procurement at the minimum support price,” Telangana Agriculture Minister Tummala Nageswara Rao said in the letter to the Minister.
The State government held a meeting last week with the representatives of the CCI, ginning mills association and marketing department to discuss the likely output and pricing prospects for farmers.
“Though the CCI called for tenders twice, ginning mills stayed away citing certain rules in the new guidelines,” Rao pointed out.
The Minister directed the marketing department to set up monitoring committees at the procurement centres to ensure farmers get their due.
Currently, the market price of cotton in the State is only ₹6,700 per quintal, which is ₹1,410 less than the MSP of ₹8,110. In such circumstances, the Minister expressed concern in the letter that farmers are at risk of going for distress sales.
Published on September 30, 2025
