Kheta Ram, a small farmer from Dharampura village in Abohar, is distraught. Fearing a sharp decline in cotton prices before the mandis get flooded with what was once referred to as “white gold”, he was amongst the first to have picked up the crop and sold it in the mandi.
As against the minimum support price (MSP) of Rs 7,710 per quintal for his medium long staple cotton, he got just Rs 5,151 per quintal. “I had taken four acres on lease to grow cotton. Now, I have suffered a huge loss because my crop sold Rs 2,559 per quintal below the MSP. I will have to think of cultivating the MSP-guaranteed wheat paddy next year,” he rued.
Kheta Ram is not the only cotton farmer in Punjab who is thinking of leaving cotton cultivation. An astounding 80 per cent of the cotton purchased so far in the state has been bought at rates below the MSP, according to the state government’s own data.
Of the 6,078 quintals of cotton purchased in mandis of Fazilka, Bathinda, Mansa and Muktsar, 4,867 quintals has been purchased below the MSP with minimum rates of purchase ranging from Rs 4,500 to Rs 5,900 per quintal in these districts.