Textiles Ministry plans direct benefit transfer to cotton farmers

The first stage of the project will be rolled out in Arvi taluk, Wardha Dt. of Maharashtra

The Ministry of Textiles plans to implement direct transfer of funds to cotton farmers’ accounts, on an experimental basis, if the price of cotton drops below the Minimum Support Price (MSP), says Textile Commissioner, Kavita Gupta.

The first stage of the project will be rolled out in Arvi taluk, Wardha district of Maharashtra, Gupta, toldThe Hindu.

The taluk was identified for the project as land documents are digitised and the Agriculture Produce Market Committee has better infrastructure.

“We are evolving a mechanism to make the payment directly to the farmers. We are still working on procedural modalities,” she said. The Ministry of Textiles will make available the funds to the state government to be paid to the farmers. The Cotton Corporation of India (CCI) will get into MSP operations as and when required in the cotton-growing states.

The Southern India Mills’ Association (SIMA) has welcomed the Central Government’s decision and said it will benefit the textile industry.

During the last cotton season, the industry paid higher prices for cotton, especially textile mills in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh though these are cotton-producing states. China has a system for direct payment of benefits to farmers and the Chinese spinning mills have benefited from it, said the association Chairman, M. Senthil Kumar, in a press statement.

The daily arrival of cotton currently is about 1.60 lakh bales as against nearly 1.4 lakh bales during this period last year, said Vice-President of Indian Cotton Federation, K. N. Viswanathan. Presently, the prices are maintained at about the MSP in most places.