Rayagada district is one of the few cotton growing districts in the state of Odisha. This year due to less than normal rainfall the cotton crop is likely to suffer. In this backdrop the cotton procurement meeting was conducted in the Rayagada on 29.11.11 in the DRDA conference hall. Other than Collector Raygada and officials of the Agriculture depy, such as Deputy Director Agriculture and Subject Matter Specialist (SMS) cotton, the meeting was attended by cotton millers, Representative of Cotton corporation of India (CCI) and the agencies which are a part of contract farming in this district.
One of the major development is that unlike last year, the cotton will be procured at Minimum Support Price, as was the practice in the years previous to last one. Last year CCI had decided to do away with the MSP and instead the farmers had to sell their produce at the prevalent market rate.
Also the issue of non flowering of the seed provided by one agency, Pratibha Syntex was raised by Collector Rayagada. The representatives of Pratibha Syntex were told to explain about the situation. According tho them , the had supplied the JK Durga variety, which was supplied last year also and there was no problem with germination or flowering. The seeds were supplied by one Naveen Jain from Madhya Pradesh and it was apparently the same variety as last year. However it remains to be understood as to why the germination and flowering did not occur this year. Collector Rayagada categorically told them, that the responsibility is squarely theirs and one thousand odd farmers that have procured seed from them need to be compensated properly. Since there has been no problem with the seeds supplied by the other two agencies, it is inferred that the seeds supplied by Pratibha Syntex were of spurious quality and has lead to loss to the farmers. Collector Raygada stressed the need to compensate the farmers who have sustained loss, as Cotton cultivation is a capital intensive task and any failure may lead to serious repercussion.
SMS cotton informed the house that this year the yield will be reduced from 18 bales per acre to 12 , due to bad rains.
