Lok Sabha Question No. 3703 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2025-08-12
Subject: Support to Cotton Farmers of Maharashtra
Ministry: AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE
Asked by: Dr. Amol Ramsing Kolhe, Shri Mohite Patil Dhairyasheel Rajsinh, Smt. Supriya Sule, Shri Sanjay Dina Patil, Prof. Varsha Eknath Gaikwad, Shri Bhaskar Murlidhar Bhagare

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE

## DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 3703

TO BE ANSWERED ON 12 TH  AUGUST, 2025

## SUPPORT TO COTTON FARMERS OF MAHARASHTRA

3703.  PROF. VARSHA EKNATH GAIKWAD:

SHRI MOHITE PATIL DHAIRYASHEEL RAJSINH:

SHRI SANJAY DINA PATIL:

DR. AMOL RAMSING KOLHE:

SMT. SUPRIYA SULE:

SHRI BHASKAR MURLIDHAR BHAGARE:

Will the Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare क ृ िष एवं िकसान कʞाण मंũी be pleased to state;

- (a)  the estimated volume of cotton production in Maharashtra during the last three years;
- (b)  the details of specific support provided by the Government to farmers in the key districts contributing to cotton production in Maharashtra, such as Jalgaon and Yavatmal;
- (c)  whether cotton farmers in Maharashtra face issues such as pest attacks, low market prices and rising input costs, if so, the steps taken to address these challenges;
- (d)  whether the Government has introduced or supported technological solutions like satellitebased  monitoring  or  precision  agriculture  to  enhance  cotton  productivity  and  reduce  risks particularly in Maharashtra;
- (e)  the  details  of  any  compensation,  insurance  or  relief  provided  to  cotton  farmers  in Maharashtra under various schemes during the above period for crop failure or price crashes; and
- (f)   whether there is any plan to strengthen cotton procurement at Minimum Support Price (MSP) through Cotton Corporation of India in Maharashtra and the quantity procured during the last three years, district-wise?

## ANSWER

THE MINISTER OF STATE FOR AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE क ृ िष एवं िकसान कʞाण राǛ मंũी (SHRI RAMNATH THAKUR)

(a): The details of cotton production in Maharashtra during the last three years is as under:

## (Production in lakh bales, each bale of 170 Kg.)

| Crop   |   2022-23 |   2023-24 |   2024-25* |
|--------|-----------|-----------|------------|
| Cotton |     83.16 |     80.45 |      92.32 |

*Data for the year 2024-25 is of 3ʳᵈ Advance Estimates                                   Source: DA&FW

- (b) to (d): The Government supports farmers of the cotton producing States, including Maharashtra, to address the issues such as pest attacks, low market prices, rising input costs

etc.  and  provide  technological  solutions  such  as  satellite-based  monitoring  or  precision agriculture to enhance cotton productivity and reduce risks through various schemes/programmes.

To enhance cotton productivity and quality, promote  innovation  and strengthen the entire  textile  value  chain  in  line  with  the  Vision  2030,  a  five-year  'Mission  for  Cotton Productivity' was announced by Hon'ble Finance Minister in her budget speech 2025-26. The Department  of  Agricultural  Research  &  Education  (DARE)  is  the  nodal  department  for implementing the Mission, with the Ministry of Textiles as a partner. This Mission aims to boost  cotton  production  through  strategic  interventions,  including  research  and  extension activities across all cotton-growing states. The Mission also proposes to focus on developing climate-smart, pest-resistant, and high-yielding cotton varieties, including Extra Long Staple (ELS) cotton, using advanced breeding and biotechnology tools.

In  order  to  enhance  the  production  and  productivity  of  cotton,  the  Department  of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare is implementing Cotton Development Programme under the National Food Security and Nutrition Mission (NFSNM) (erstwhile NFSM) in 15 major cotton growing States, including Maharashtra, since 2014-15.

Further, a Special Project on Cotton titled 'Targeting technologies to agro-ecological zones-large scale demonstration of best practices to enhance cotton productivity' of ICARCentral Institute for Cotton Research (CICR), Nagpur has been implemented in Maharashtra and in seven other major cotton growing States under NFSNM during 2023-24 and 2024-25 to enhance the productivity of cotton.

Every year, Government fixes Minimum Support Prices (MSP) to provide remunerative prices to cotton farmers, protecting them from distress sales when market prices fall below the MSP. The MSP is fixed at least 50 percent margin over the cost of production. The rise in inputs cost is accounted in the cost of production calculations.

The Cotton Corporation of India, under the Ministry of Textiles, safeguards the interests of  cotton  farmers  by  opening  adequate  procurement  centres,  where  its  officials  remain present throughout the cotton season to ensure the implementation of Minimum Support Price (MSP). There are no fixed targets or quantity restrictions for cotton procurement under MSP operations. However, the farmers have the liberty to sell their produce either to CCI or private parties.

In  order  to  support  cotton  farmers  in  key  cotton-producing  districts  of Maharashtra, such as Jalgaon and Yavatmal, the Cotton Corporation of India (CCI) under its two Branches viz., Aurangabad & Akola, has opened 128 procurement centres across 19 districts, including 11  centres  in  Jalgaon  and  15  centres  in  Yavatmal.  Thus,  CCI  has  procured  144.55  lakh quintals of kapas (cotton), valuing ₹10,714 crores, through 6.27 lakh transactions by cotton farmers across the state. This includes procurement of about 21.39 lakh quintals of kapas (cotton) from Yavatmal district and 4.79 lakh quintals from Jalgaon district.

The Government has been assisting APMCs in developing infrastructure and value chain through various schemes like National Agriculture Market (e-NAM), Agriculture Market Infrastructure  (AMI),  and  Agri.  Infrastructure  Fund  (AIF)  etc.  Under  e-NAM,  133  APMC markets  of  Maharashtra  have  been  integrated  with  National  Agriculture  Market  (e-NAM) platform till 30.6.2025.

Apart from input subsidies provided by the State Governments,  the Central Government implements schemes such as Per Drop More Crop, Sub-Mission on Agricultural Mechanization (SMAM) etc., also support farmers. Government also ensures availability of subsidized fertilizer to the farmers. Under Cotton Seeds Price (Control) Order, 2015, prices of Bt cotton is fixed every year to make availability of seeds at reasonable price to the cotton farmers.

The Government is using space technology for the various activities, which include FASAL project  (Forecasting  Agricultural  output  using  Space,  Agro-meteorology  and  Land based  observations),  Drought  Monitoring  and  providing  technological  support  to  Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY). Under FASAL project, area and yield forecasting for major crops including cotton is being carried out.

For the Drought Monitoring, Department has developed a Geoportal in collaboration with SAC (ISRO), Ahmedabad. The portal hosts data of multiple drought indicators related to rainfall, soil moisture, remote sensing-based crop condition, water storages, etc.

Space  technology  is  also  being  used  for  various  operational  applications  under PMFBY, such as Smart Sampling for Crop Cutting Experiments (CCEs), yield estimation & dispute resolution (area and yield).

Further,  the  Government has  developed  a  Krishi Decision  Support  System  (KrishiDSS)  which  is  a  cloud-based  Geo-spatial  platform  that  leverages  space  technology  to empower various stakeholders in the agriculture sector. Krishi-DSS platform hosts a variety of datasets, including weather data, Satellite images, Soil layers, Water related data and field information. Krishi-DSS offers variety of modules/algorithms to support agricultural management and decision-making.

(e): The Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY)  scheme  provides for comprehensive risk insurance against crop damage from pre-sowing to post-harvest for crops and  area  notified  by  the  concerned  State  Government.  Under  this  scheme,  claims  are provided  only  to  the  insured  farmers  who  suffer  crop  loss  due  to  any  unforeseen  natural climatic  disasters  and  weather  perils.  Government  of  Maharashtra  is  implementing  this scheme since 2016 and details of claims paid to cotton farmers under this scheme during last five years are as under:

| Year                 |   2020 |   2021 |   2022 |    2023 |   2024 |
|----------------------|--------|--------|--------|---------|--------|
| Claims Paid (in Cr.) |  55.26 |  441.1 | 456.84 | 1941.09 | 758.95 |

Modified Interest Subvention Scheme (MISS) provides short-term agricultural loans at concessional interest rates through Kisan Credit Cards (KCC). Under this scheme, farmers including tenant farmers receive KCC loans at a subsidized interest rate of 7%. To facilitate this,  an  upfront  interest  subvention  (IS)  of  1.5%  is  provided  to  financial  institutions. Additionally,  farmers  who  repay  their  loans  promptly  receive  a  3%  Prompt  Repayment Incentive (PRI), effectively reducing the interest rate to 4% per annum.

(f):  To  ensure  remunerative  prices,  the  Government  has  been  increasing  the  Minimum Support  Price  (MSP)  of  cotton  over  the  years.  For  the  ensuing  Cotton  Season  2025-26 (commencing from 1 st  October, 2025), Government of India has increased the MSP of cotton by upto 8.27 % i.e. MSP for Medium Staple has been increased to Rs. 7,710/Qntl. and for

Long Staple to Rs. 8,110/Qntl, as compared to Rs. 7,121/Qntl and Rs. 7,521/Qntl respectively during cotton season 2024-25.

To strengthen cotton procurement at MSP, following measures have been taken by CCI:

- i. On  spot  Aadhar  authentication  (through  OTP/biometric  device)  based  farmer's registration made mandatory.
- ii. SMS alerts launched to notify farmers about bill generation and payment status under MSP operations.
- iii. 100% payment directly  in  Aadhar  linked  Bank  Accounts  of  cotton  farmers  through National Automated Clearing House (NACH), to ensure that the benefits of the MSP reaches directly to genuine cotton farmers.
- iv. Launched 'Cott-Ally' mobile app in nine regional languages to enhance awareness among  cotton  farmers  about  MSP  rates,  nearest  procurement  centers,  payment tracking, live chat support etc.

The  details  of  district-wise  procurement  by  Cotton  Corporation  of  India  in Maharashtra during the last three years is given at Annexure .

## Statement showing the district-wise quantity procured under MSP operation in Maharashtra during the last three years:

| Sl. No   | Branch     | District    | 2021-22   | 2022-23   | 2023-24 Quantity   | 2023-24 Quantity   | 2024-25 Quantity   | 2024-25 Quantity   |
|----------|------------|-------------|-----------|-----------|--------------------|--------------------|--------------------|--------------------|
| Sl. No   | Branch     | District    | Quantity  | Quantity  | Kapas (Lakh Qtls)  | Lint (Lakh Bales)  | Kapas (Lakh Qtls)  | Lint (Lakh Bales)  |
| 1        | Akola      | Akola       | -         | -         | 3.10               | 0.62               | 22.00              | 4.54               |
| 2        | Akola      | Amravati    | -         | -         | 0.52               | 0.11               | 13.00              | 2.70               |
| 3        | Akola      | Buldhana    | -         | -         | 1.00               | 0.21               | 9.00               | 1.82               |
| 4        | Akola      | Chandrapur  | -         | -         | 1.10               | 0.22               | 12.00              | 2.42               |
| 5        | Akola      | Nagpur      | -         | -         | 0.32               | 0.07               | 1.50               | 0.31               |
| 6        | Akola      | Wardha      | -         | -         | 0.38               | 0.08               | 8.40               | 1.69               |
| 7        | Akola      | Washim      | -         | -         | 0.39               | 0.08               | 1.50               | 0.30               |
| 8        | Akola      | Yavatmal    | -         | -         | 1.00               | 0.21               | 21.39              | 4.28               |
| 9        | Akola      | Gadchiroli  | -         | -         | -                  | -                  | 0.25               | 0.05               |
| 10       | Aurangabad | Ahemadnagar | -         | -         | 0.01               | 0.00               | 2.98               | 0.60               |
| 11       | Aurangabad | Aurangabad  | -         | -         | 0.07               | 0.01               | 7.29               | 1.46               |
| 12       | Aurangabad | Beed        | -         | -         | 0.05               | 0.01               | 6.00               | 1.39               |
| 13       | Aurangabad | Dhule       | -         | -         | 0.25               | 0.05               | 3.82               | 0.76               |
| 14       | Aurangabad | Hingoli     | -         | -         | 0.05               | 0.01               | 1.83               | 0.37               |
| 15       | Aurangabad | Jalgaon     | -         | -         | 0.83               | 0.17               | 4.70               | 0.96               |
| 16       | Aurangabad | Jalna       | -         | -         | 1.48               | 0.30               | 8.89               | 1.78               |
| 17       | Aurangabad | Nanded      | -         | -         | 0.74               | 0.15               | 2.95               | 0.59               |
| 18       | Aurangabad | Nandurbar   | -         | -         | 0.04               | 0.01               | 3.05               | 0.61               |
| 19       | Aurangabad | Parbhani    | -         | -         | 0.72               | 0.14               | 14.00              | 2.80               |
| Total    | Total      | Total       | -         | -         | 12.05              | 2.44               | 144.55             | 29.41              |

Note: During Cotton Season 2021-22 & 2022-23, cotton prices were ruling above MSP. Hence, no MSP support required by farmers.

Source: Cotton Corporation of India Ltd.

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