‘Cotton Corp to procure 125 lakh bales’
Centre says it has spent over ₹1.90 lakh cr in 2019-20 to procure rice, wheat on MSP
The government, reeling under intense farmer protest,s particularly in Punjab and Haryana, has announced enhanced procurement targets for rice and cotton during the current kharif marketing season and stated that it has spent over ₹1.90 lakh crore in 2019-20 for procuring rice and wheat on MSP.
Announcing cotton procurement targets for the season, for the first time, Textile Secretary Ravi Capoor said the state-owned Cotton Corporation of India (CCI) would procure 125 lakh bales (one bale is 170 kg) of cotton, which is 20 lakh bales more than the 105 lakh bales procured in the previous season.
Telangana paddy area doubles to 53 lakh acres
The paddy acreage in Telangana has seen record growth as the farmers sowed the crop in 52.55 lakh acres this kharif as against the season-normal of 27 lakh acres last year.
The State, under its new regulated cropping system, wanted the farmers to grow paddy in 42 lakh acres. But the target has far exceeded with farmers tapping into the new irrigation potential that the State created in the last two-three years.
We will procure all of paddy, cotton: Telangana CM
The Telangana Government has said it would procure all of the cotton and paddy that is produced in the State in the kharif season.
The State would procure the paddy by setting up 6,000 procurement centres.
At a review meeting held on agriculture on Tuesday, Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao has said that “every grain of paddy is purchased”.
The State covered an area of 134.87 lakh acres in the kharif season, in which the Government regulated the cropping system. Paddy was sown in 52.77 lakh acres, while cotton covered an area of 60.36 lakh acres.
