Farmers hailing from Babhulgaon in Yavatmal, Maharashtra, lament the enduring challenge of being unable to offload their cotton produce since the past year, attributing this predicament to the persistently dwindling prices in the market.
Caught in a conundrum as the deadline for loan repayment looms, these farmers grapple with the dilemma of either persisting with holding onto their harvested crops or succumbing to the necessity of selling them at a considerable loss. They attribute the decline in cotton production this season to the erratic patterns of rainfall, exacerbating their plight.
Sharing his ordeal, Prakash Madhukar Gawande, a cotton farmer hailing from Naygaon village in Babhulgaon, revealed his substantial investment of over Rs 30,000 per acre in cultivating cotton across his 15-acre land. Despite his toil, Gawande faces the disheartening prospect of incurring a loss of Rs 7,000 per quintal if he opts to vend his produce at the prevailing rate of Rs 6,000 per quintal. He highlights the discrepancy between the market prices for long yarn and shorter yarn cotton, both falling below his expectations, which he believes should ideally hover around Rs 10,000 per quintal. Furthermore, Gawande underscores the additional financial strain imposed by the substantial expenses incurred on seeds and fertilizers, coupled with the 18% GST levied on these inputs.
Expressing their dissatisfaction with the inadequacy of government interventions to mitigate their losses, these farmers resort to storing their yield for prolonged durations, facing the risk of exposure to allergens while safeguarding their produce from the caprices of weather elements, all in the fervent hope of securing a more favorable price in the future.
Gawande reflects on the broader agricultural landscape in Yavatmal, a region esteemed as the epicenter of cotton cultivation in the state, yet paradoxically burdened with the grim distinction of recording the highest instances of farmer suicides. Amidst such dire circumstances, Amol Kapse, the director of the Agricultural Produce Market Committee (APMC) in Babhulgaon, underscores the absence of a dedicated center for the Cotton Corporation of India (CCI) in the taluk. This void, he argues, compels farmers to resort to selling their produce to private entities at subpar rates, exacerbating their financial woes. Kapse emphasizes the urgent need for government intervention to avert the looming specter of further farmer distress and suicides, particularly amidst the onset of bank recoveries.
