In a decision that will kick off a debate on cotton MSP, the Telangana government has asked the Centre to increase the MSP for cotton to ₹8,092 a quintal for next season.

This is 100 per cent more than the MSP announced for cotton for the current season.

The State government has done a survey on cost of production based on the expenditure incurred to farmers in the current season on various crops and sent a report to the Union government, giving a break-up on the cost of production for cotton per hectare.

Swaminathan panel

“We found that farmers would have to spend ₹69,371 on a hectare of cotton area. If you include the land lease cost and managerial costs, it would cross the ₹1-lakh mark at ₹1.08 lakh. With an average yield of 20 quintals/ha, the cost per quintal would be at ₹5, 395,” a government official said.

Taking a cue from the Swaminathan Committee’s recommendations, the State’s report has pegged the MSP at ₹8,092 against ₹4,100 for the 2015 season.

With severe drought impacting the crop this year, cotton farmers across the State had to contend with poor yields. The initial response at the mandis is not encouraging either with traders buying the produce far below the MSP.

The Committee has recommended that the MSP must be 50 per cent over and above the cost of production in order to make agriculture a remunerative proposition.

Rise in production cost

G Ramanjaneyulu of Centre for Sustainable Agriculture (CSA) said the cotton farmers deserved higher MSP, keeping in view the skyrocketing cost of production.

“Writing to the Centre asking for higher MSP is okay, but what’s that the State government is doing to improve their lot? It agrees that the cost of production has gone up to ₹5,395 (a quintal). What are the measures the State was taking to help them recover the costs,” he asked.

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