Cotton prices are soaring across the country, bringing tremendous profits to producers as they gave a cheerful adieu to 2021. A quintal of cotton was recently sold for Rs.9611 for the first time in the 70-year history of the Adoni farm market yard in Kurnool.
Adoni is the only market in the State where the fiber crop is traded.
"Cotton prices have been rising since the beginning of the season, and they have already surpassed Rs.9600 per quintal. It may potentially go up to Rs.10000 in the next few days," said B Sreekanth Reddy, deputy director of the market yard.
"For the past several days, the yard has been receiving around 4,000 quintals of the crop every day from throughout the southern states and at least 300 businessmen trade frequently in cotton here," he told. Furthermore, the market yard demands 10 average bids per stock, which is the largest in the country, according to the official.
The DD addressed why cotton prices are increasing by stating that there was a shortage of stocks worldwide due to rainfall, lower cultivation, and worse quality of kharif production in other markets.
"Because Kurnool cotton seed and lint are of higher quality, traders from all across the country are interested in exporting the produce cultivated here." Often referred to as the ‘white gold’, cotton has become a ray of hope for the farmers.
"Cotton has been my major crop for the last five years." Every year, I suffered losses since the yield's minimum support price was insufficient. This year's incessant rains in November just added to my fears, and I had given up hope. Fortunately, the rains did not cause significant harm to the fiber crop, and the output was great. The merchants are now offering us more than Rs.9000 per quintal. "They are even willing to come to our farms and grab the produce directly," claimed Gunji Tirupatayya of Chimakurthy mandal in Prakasam district.
According to information, the crop is produced on 81,601 hectares in Prakasam, the majority of which are in the district's western parts.
The crop's minimum support price is Rs.6025 per quintal.
"For the first time, cotton producers in Parchuru are receiving decent prices. Despite the fact that rains harmed the crop to some extent during the flowering stage, we obtained a yield of 5 quintals per acre. One quintal went for Rs.8000," said KVS Ramachandra Rao.
