Pune: Farmers across Maharashtra’s cotton-growing regions, particularly in Vidarbha, have called on the Cotton Corporation of India (CCI) to relax its procurement standards after prolonged rains severely damaged crops and pushed up moisture levels in harvested cotton.
Under current guidelines, CCI procures cotton only if its moisture content is below 12%. However, weeks of continuous rainfall have raised moisture levels to 12–20% in several districts, effectively disqualifying a large portion of the crop from being purchased under the Minimum Support Price (MSP) scheme.
Prices Far Below MSP
For the 2025–26 season, the Centre has fixed the MSP at ₹7,710 per quintal for medium-staple cotton (24.5–25.5 mm) and ₹8,110 per quintal for long-staple cotton (29.5–30.5 mm). Yet, open-market prices are hovering between ₹3 and ₹5.60 per kilogram, well below the MSP. This disparity has left farmers with little choice but to sell at distress prices to private traders.
During the 2024–25 season, CCI procured 144.55 lakh quintals of kapas, equivalent to 29.41 lakh lint bales, valued at nearly ₹10,714 crore, from Maharashtra farmers through over 6.27 lakh transactions under MSP operations.
Farmers Demand Relief
Leaders of the Shetkari Sanghatana, a prominent farmers’ organization, have urged CCI to increase the permissible moisture limit and relax quality norms so that rain-hit farmers are not excluded from government procurement. They also objected to the CCI’s restriction of buying only five quintals per acre, demanding that the cap be removed to enable fairer participation.
“The rains have already caused severe damage to crops and delayed harvesting. The limited procurement and operational delays have added to farmers’ woes,” said Avinash Patil, Akola district chief of Shetkari Sanghatana.
Many growers also reported that several procurement centres are yet to begin operations, leaving them uncertain about the fate of their harvest. Without prompt government intervention, they fear substantial financial losses and a surge in distress sales to private buyers.
Call for Urgent Action
Farmer groups are pressing the CCI and state authorities to initiate large-scale procurement drives immediately and adapt the moisture threshold in line with current field conditions. With the damage caused by unseasonal rains already evident, they warn that failure to act swiftly could deepen the agrarian crisis and further destabilize rural incomes in one of India’s key cotton belts.
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