cotton has been procured in Maharashtra despite the COVID-19
pandemic and onset of monsoon, the state cabinet was informed
on Thursday.
This was the highest government procurement of cotton
in the last ten years, said a statement from the Chief
Minister”s Office (CMO).
The purchased cotton was worth Rs 11,776.89 crore, out
of which farmers have been paid Rs 11,029.47 crore so far, it
said.
The CCI and the State Cotton Federation had procured
91.90 lakh quintal and 54.03 lakh quintal cotton,
respectively, before the coronavirus outbreak, it said.
During the pandemic, farmers preferred selling cotton
at government procurement centres since market rates were
lower than the minimum support price (MSP) of the government,
said the CMO statement.
Since the coronavirus outbreak, the CCI procured
35.70 lakh quintal and State Cotton Federation procured
36.75 lakh quintal cotton, it said.
In total, 418.8 lakh quintal cotton has been procured
by the government and private traders together.
Procurement was made from 8,64,072 farmers.
Meanwhile, the state cabinet during Thursday”s meeting
decided to provide compensation for damage to betelnut and
coconut plantations caused by cyclone Nisarga in Ratnagiri and
Raigad districts.
Instead of lumpsum compensation of Rs 50,000 per
hectare, Rs 50 will be paid for each destroyed betelnut tree
and Rs 250 per each destroyed coconut tree, the CMO statement
said.
In another decision, election for Nanded mayor and
deputy mayor was postponed by three months in view of the
pandemic. The term of incumbents ended on May 1. PTI MR
KRK KRK
Disclaimer :- This story has not been edited by Outlook staff and is auto-generated from news agency feeds. Source: PTI
