Farmers in erstwhile undivided Adilabad district, especially cotton farmers, never had such an encouraging beginning of kharif season.
As part of a double bonanza, the State government gave them money at the rate of ₹ 4,000 per acre in the form of investment support in May and on Wednesday the Centre enhanced the minimum support price for 15 crops for the year 2018, the hike in MSP for cotton being substantial.
The hike in MSP of long staple cotton is ₹ 1,130 as it has gone up from the existing ₹ 4,320 per quintal to ₹ 5,450 per quintal. As the estimated area under this crop is in the extent of 3.5 lakh hectare and the average yield is 8 quintals, farmers stand to gain by about ₹ 800 crore.
The MSP for soyabean, another major commercial crop in the area, has been raised from ₹ 3,050 per quintal to ₹ 3,399, an increase of ₹ 349 per quintal. The area under this crop is about 1.25 lakh hectare according to preliminary reports.
The Union Cabinet’s approval for enhancement of MSP for redgram and common paddy will also bring cheer to the farmers. While redgram is cultivated as an intercrop in about one lakh hectare, paddy is cultivated in about 60,000 hectare.
The existing MSP for redgram is ₹ 5,450 per quintal and that of common paddy is ₹ 1,550. These have been enhanced to ₹ 5,675 per quintal and ₹ 1,750 per quintal respectively.