Chennai, Jul 7 (PTI) Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin on Friday urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to direct the Cotton Corporation of India to commence cotton procurement in the state and also to direct the Agriculture Ministry to make the Kharif Minimum Support Price (MSP) for cotton effective from June 1 onwards in the coming years.

This gesture would provide much-needed relief to the distressed cotton growers in the State by stabilising prices and ensuring fair income for their produce, the Chief Minister said in a letter addressed to Modi.

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Drawing the Prime Minister's attention to the "dire situation" faced by the cotton farmers of Tamil Nadu, Stalin said the farmers are currently affected by a steep fall in cotton prices to Rs 5,500 per quintal during the ongoing harvest season.

But the previous year proved to be highly profitable for them as they were able to sell cotton at Rs 12,000 per quintal. Encouraged by this, a large number of farmers opted for cotton cultivation this year, he added.

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"Tamil Nadu has two unique seasons for cotton viz. rice fallow and summer-irrigated wherein the sowing is done in February-March and it is harvested from first week of June onwards. Cotton crop has been raised in around 84,000 acres in these two seasons," he said in the letter a copy of which was made available to the media here.

With the harvest of rice fallow cotton in full swing, there were pleas from Tamil Nadu farmers to invite the CCI to start its procurement operations in the state and also advance the adherence of Kharif MSP for cotton to June first week every year due to cotton prices plummeting to Rs 5,500 per quintal, he said.

The procurement by CCI in the past has been immensely helpful in stabilising cotton prices. Recently, the Centre fixed the MSP of medium staple cotton as Rs 6,620 per quintal and long staple cotton as Rs 7,020 per quintal for 2023-24, with an increase of Rs 540 and Rs 640 per quintal, respectively, over the previous year.

"While thankfully recalling the support rendered by you in advancing the MSP of paddy by one month last year when the Kuruvai paddy season was advanced by a month, I request you to kindly direct the Cotton Corporation of India to commence cotton procurement in Tamil Nadu and also to direct the Ministry of Agriculture henceforth to make the Kharif MSP for cotton effective from June 1 onwards in Tamil Nadu in the coming years," the Chief Minister said in the letter.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)