Punjab farmers selling cotton below MSP

Mansa (Punjab), Oct 26 (PTI) Farmers in Punjab areselling cotton below minimum support price to private playersbecause Cotton Corporation of India, the government's nodalagency for procurement, does not have the resources to liftthe commodity in bulk in time. "We prefer to sell cotton to private traders even belowMSP rather waiting for days for CCI to lift the fibre,"Harbinder Singh, a farmer from Mansa district, told PTI. Singh waited for two days at market yard in hope ofselling the crop to CCI, which buys at MSP, but finally soldto a private ginner at Rs 2,750 per quintal, Rs 50 less thanthe MSP of Rs 2,800 a quintal for the variety grown in thearea. However, a local CCI official K K Dheer said: "We areprocuring 90 per cent of the crop in the state this year.Since arrivals are huge, we are finding it difficult to getlabourers to check quality and weight." It takes maximum two days to lift the fibre from mandis,he added. Mansa-based Market Committee Secretary Jarnail Singhsaid: "We have less manpower to measure the huge arrivals inthe market. This is the reason why farmers have to wait for afew days." As CCI is purchasing most of the cotton produced inMansa, it is facing labour problem, he said. CCI, under the textile ministry, is mandated to buy fibrefor the government operations if prices fall below MSP toavoid distress sale by farmers. Another farmer Gurvinder Singh who brought a trolly ofcotton in the mandi on Friday said: "I don't know when will myturn come. I have brought cotton to the mandi and waiting forCCI to buy.... If it gets delayed then I will think of sellingit to private traders." Although farmers are willing to sell the fibre to CCI andearn more money, the delay in buying process is making themcompromise with private agents, many farmers complained. So far, CCI has procured 99,884 quintals of cotton fromMansa, situated in the cotton belt of Punjab while privateagents have bought 3,699 quintals. The Corporation is buyingon an average over 2,000 quintals per day. Farmers, who were waiting at the market yard at Mansa,also called the area of 'white gold', complained that theyhave to wait for two to three days before the fibre getsweighed and another two to three days till it is lifted fromthe from there by CCI. Pointing the reason for the delay in lifting, a farmer,Gulal Singh said: "CCI does not have enough infrastructure andmanpower to procure the material." However, the farmers suggested that CCI should haveginner millers near market yard besides transport facility topick up cotton from mandis. CCI, which has started buying the fibre crop at MSP inall states, has so far procured 1.3 lakh bales this year. Onebale is equal to 170 kg. PTI