Ginning Mills Shut Down Over CCI Rules
ADILABAD: Owners of cotton ginning mills (facilities that process raw cotton to separate usable fibres) across the state have shut down their units from Monday in protest against the Cotton Corporation of India (CCI) grading of gin mills and implementation of the Kapas Kisan Implementation system. As part of the tension, the Adilabad cotton market remained closed and no cotton was purchased.
While all ginneries in the state suspended operations, farmers continued their separate protests against CCI’s restrictions on procurement and moisture content norms.
It is alleged that CCI reserved purchasing quotas only for factories in the L1 category and this caused job loss for factories in other categories. The category of a factory is determined by the modernity of its machinery and the number of workers employed in the unit.
The ginnery owners are demanding that the CCI abolish the grading system and distribute cotton equally across all categories. They argue that continuing with the current system would force them to spend money on labor and machinery maintenance without production.
Adilabad Ginning Mills Association president Ch. Raju said they were against CCI’s classification of mills from L1 to L8 and allocation of cotton primarily to L1 mills in Adilabad district through Kapas Kisan Scheme. He said the rating was made based on factory capacity and machinery. There are 18 ginneries in Adilabad town and Markfed.
CCI has limited procurement to just 7 quintals per acre and accepts only cotton with moisture content between 8 and 12 percent. Most farmers receive less than 6,000 rupees per quintal from private traders as CCI refuses to buy cotton with moisture content above 12 percent; which is much lower than the MSP of ₹8,110.
To counter CCI’s restrictions, agriculture minister Tummala Nageshwar Rao asked the district collector to conduct field surveys to assess the average cotton yield.
Farmers in Adilabad district are expressing strong resentment against moisture and procurement restrictions imposed by the local CCI branch.
Sathnala farmer B. Raju said the moisture content in his cotton remained at 14 per cent even after drying the crop in the sun for 10 days as foggy and cloudy conditions made drying difficult.
He said that he had 20 quintals ready for sale but in the current situation he was not sure of getting a fair price. He said private traders were exploiting distressed farmers by offering prices below ₹6,000 per quintal. He added that farmers spend heavily on labor and pay ₹10 per kg for cotton picking.
There is also a high demand for agricultural workers as cotton picking begins on the farms simultaneously after the cocoons burst.
Former minister Jogu Ramanna of BRS said farmers and their families are also facing difficulties in selling soya as pattadar passbook holders have to personally provide thumb prints unlike before when any family member could do so.
