Today, Union Textile Minister Shankarsinh Vaghela, denied reducing Minimum Support Price (MSP) of cotton, in a direct reply to the agitating ginners across the country. With the aim to pitch for rationalization of cotton MSP, nearly 4,000 ginners in India have launched a two-day strike.

At a press conference held in Ahmedabad, Vaghela said, “Ginners reaped the rich benefits of higher cotton prices last year. Now let the farmers earn higher returns this year.”

The Minister further added, “Market prices of cotton were 45 per cent higher than the cotton MSP last year and this year’s hike in cotton MSP was aimed at leveling cotton MSP against market prices. If the ginners feel like closing down their mills, they can shut them.”

The cotton MSP has been increased by the Centre government for 2008-09 by 40 per cent on 1 September this year. A letter to the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was also written by the Union Textile Minister, in which he had demanded Rs 565 crore for cotton procurement by CCI during 2008-09.

He explained, “Apart from this, Rs 1,500 crore have been sought from the Centre for cotton procurement next fiscal.”

The farmers were assured by the Minister that the government would continue to buy cotton at MSP from its procurement centers, while he also informed that CCI is purchasing 1.50 lakh bales everyday from farmers across the country. The farmers were also advised to not to sell their produce below MSP.

The minister also specified, “Daily arrivals of cotton from the states growing the crop are between 150,000-160,000 bales per day. CCI is buying less than 50 per cent of the total arrivals in Gujarat, Rajasthan, Haryana and it is buying almost 85 per cent to 90 per cent of total kapas arrivals in Punjab, Madhya Pradesh, and Maharashtra.”

The Minister added that while during the last year; the estimated cotton production was of 315 lakh bales, during 2008-09, it has been estimated around 322 lakh bales.