Maharashtra Assembly Elections 2024 | Languishing cotton farming poised to be poll issue in Vidarbha and Marathwada

Nagpur/ Chhatrapati Sambhaji Nagar: In the run up to the Vidhan Sabha polls, cotton is becoming an election issue in Maharashtra.

Major cotton-producing regions in Maharashtra include Vidarbha, Marathwada and Khandesh.

Maharashtra is home to 40 lakh cotton-farmers.

Maharashtra produces approximately 80 lakh bales of cotton every year. The Eknath Shinde-led Maha Yuti comprising BJP-Shiv Sena-NCP has rolled out the Mukhya Mantri Ladki Bahin Yojana, to help out women and households with low income.

However, farmers’ issues are significant in these regions.

“Cotton farmers have been facing problems for the last three decades,” said Pramod Jadhav, a farmer who cultivates cotton near Nagpur, the hub of Vidarbha.

“Multinational corporations cannot be allowed to control prices,” said veteran farmers’ leader Kishor Tiwari, who is also the founder of Vidarbha Jan Andolan Samiti.

Tiwari said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi would have to address the issue of Minimum Support Price (MSP).

"The most important thing that would help the farmers is higher MSP," said Narayan Nanaware, a farmer from Jalna in the Marathwada region.

However, a senior BJP leader said farmers are regularly getting Rs 6,000 from PM Kisan Samman Nidhi Yojana and an additional Rs 6,000 from Namo Shetkari MahaSanman Nidhi scheme, which was launched by the BJP-led Maha Yuti government in Maharashtra. “Besides, the Maharashtra government has also helped us during the vagaries of nature by extending ex-gratia and relief,” he said.

“Modi should address the core issue of input-cost reduction, output-cost feasibility and profitable pricing ,institutional interest free credit, direct cash subsidies for cultivation, education, health and rural employment,” said Tiwari, who is a part of the team of Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray.

Meanwhile, state Congress President Nana Patole has urged Modi to ban import of cotton bales and direct the Cotton Corporation of India (CCI) to aggressively procure cotton at MSP to provide immediate relief and stabilise prices.

“Recent news of the import of 22 lakh bales of cotton have raised serious concerns about the potential fall in cotton prices in the Indian market. This import, combined with 11 lakh unsold bales held by the CCI threatens to destabilise the cotton market and undermine the livelihood of farmers of Maharashtra,” said Patole.

“Currently, cotton is being sold at Rs 6,500-Rs 6,600/quintal, significantly below the MSP of Rs 7,122. Due to this low market price, farmers had so far chosen not to sell their produce, in the hope of a better price in the near future. However, the impending import of 22 lakh bales threatens to lower demand for locally produced cotton, suppressing prices further and negating any chance of an increase,” he added.

A fresh influx of 22 lakh bales - over one-fourth of the overall cotton produced in our state, will create severe market imbalance and destabilise the cotton economy of Maharashtra.

Maharashtra’s cotton farmers are already vulnerable, facing challenges from low prices, high input costs due to 12-18 per cent GST imposition on agricultural inputs and unseasonal rains.

“In light of this precarious situation, the Centre’s failure to curb huge amounts of cotton imports, despite CCI’s existing stockpile of 11 lakh unsold bales, shows that the Centre is more concerned about traders profit margins,” said Congress leaders.