The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, chaired by Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, has given its approval for committed price support of Rs. 17,408.85 crore to the Cotton Corporation of India (CCI) for the cotton seasons from 2014-15 to 2020-21 (up to 30 September 2021).
In a statement, the Government said that in order to safeguard the interests of the cotton farmers, it is expedient to conduct price support operations in cotton years 2014-15 to 2020-21 as cotton prices touched the MSP prices.
Its implementation enhances the inclusiveness of the cotton farmers in the economic activity of the country. Price support operations help stabilise the cotton prices and alleviate farmer’s distress.
It has been said that around Rs. 8,000 crore will be released for the current financial year through supplementary provision, while balance amount will be released in next fiscal by budgetary provision.
Cabinet approves incurring expenditure for reimbursing the losses under MSP operations for cotton during the cotton season (October to September) 2014-15 to 2020-21.
During cotton season 2020-21, area under cotton cultivation was 133 lakh hectares with estimated production of 360 lakh bales, which account for around 25 per cent of total global cotton production. Government based on the recommendations of CACP fixes MSP for seed cotton (kapas).
Government appoints CCI as Central Nodal agency and CCI is mandated to undertake MSP in cotton by procuring all FAQ grade cotton from farmers without any quantitative celling, as and when cotton prices fall below MSP level.
MSP operations protect cotton farmers from distress sale during any adverse price situation.
CCI keeps its infrastructure ready in all 11 major cotton growing states by opening 474 procurement centres in 143 districts.
As per the statement, during global pandemic in the last two cotton seasons (2019-20 and 2020-21), CCI procured around 1/3rd of the cotton production in the country, i.e., about 200 lakh bales and disbursed more than Rs. 55,000/- crore directly in the bank accounts of around 40 lakh farmers.
For current cotton season, i.e., 2021-022, CCI has already made all adequate arrangements in all 11 major cotton growing states including deployment of manpower at more than 450 procurement centres, so as to meet any eventuality of MSP operations.
The Government has also approved reservation norms for mandatory use of jute in packaging for the Jute Year 2021-22 (1 July 2021 to 30 June 2022). The mandatory packaging norms approved for Jute Year 2021-22 provide for 100 per cent reservation of the food grains and 20 per cent of sugar to be compulsorily packed in jute bags.
Source : https://in.apparelresources.com/
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