Parliament Question: Cotton Procurement Centres in Tamil Nadu

LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 5152 TO BE ANSWERED ON 24.03.2026 COTTON PROCUREMENT CENTRES IN TAMIL NADU 5152. SHRI SELVAGANAPATHI T.M.: DR. GANAPATHY RAJKUMAR P: Will the Minister of TEXTILES वस्त्र मंत्री be pleased to state : (a) whether the Cotton Corporation of India (CCI) has opened any cotton procurement centres in Tamil Nadu and if so, the details thereof; (b) whether it is a fact that the CCI has purchased more than 45 lakh bales of cotton this year since October 1, 2025 from the farmers at Minimum Support Price and if so, the details thereof along with the volume of cotton purchased by CCI through its procurement centres in Tamil Nadu along with its prices during the last three years; (c) whether it is also a fact that there is decline in cotton purchases by the CCI during the recent years and the CCI has not purchased a single bale of cotton from Tamil Nadu since October 1, 2025 till now and if so, the details thereof along with the reasons therefor; (d) whether it is also true that the cotton farmers in the country are incurring losses as the yield per acre has come down drastically due to various reasons and if so, the reasons therefor; and (e) whether it is also true that the quality of cotton that arrived in the market in October and November was poor because of unseasonal rains in the cotton growing regions and if so, the details thereof? उत्तर ANSWER वस्त्र मत्रं ी (श्री गिरििाज स हं ) MINISTER OF TEXTILES (SHRI GIRIRAJ SINGH) (a): In the cotton season 2025–26, CCI has opened 9 procurement centres in 8 districts of Tamil Nadu under its Branch Office at Coimbatore. The district-wise details of the centres are as under: S. No. District Name of Centre 1. Trichy Thuraiyur 2. Salem Konganapuram 3. Permabalur Permabalur 4. Dharmapuri Harur Rajapalayam 5. Virudhunagar Arupukkottai 6. Ariyalur Ariyalur 7. Theni Theni 8. Thoothukudi Kovilpatti (b) & (c): During cotton season 2025–26 (from October 1, 2025), Cotton Corporation of India (CCI) has undertaken substantial procurement of about 522 lakh quintals of seed cotton in the country (equivalent to 104.86 lakh bales), valued at Rs. 41,518 crore, through 23.68 lakh farmer transactions under Minimum Support Price (MSP) operations.With regard to Tamil Nadu, MSP operations have remained minimal in recent cotton seasons, as farmers in the State have generally realized remunerative market prices above MSP or have not offered kapas at MSP at CCI procurement centres. However, during the Covid-19 pandemic in cotton season 2019–20, when market conditions were subdued, CCI supported farmers in Tamil Nadu by procuring seed cotton equivalent to 0.28 lakh bales valued at Rs. 78 crore through about 0.29 lakh farmer transactions. (d) & (e): Cotton yield and quality are influenced by multiple agronomic and weather-related factors, including pest incidence and rainfall patterns; in some regions, unseasonal rains during October– November led to moisture ingress and quality variations. A statement indicating area, production and yield from 2021–22 to 2025–26 is enclosed at Annexure-I. Further, all cotton offered by farmers in the country at the MSP rates is procured as per prescribed guidelines and district-wise yield declared by the state governments. Accordingly, state-wise procurement of cotton under MSP operations during current cotton season 2025-26 vs 2024-25 is enclosed at Annexure-II. Annexure-I Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare Department of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare (DA&FW) State-wise Area, Production & Yield of Cotton, (2021-22 to 2025-26) Source: DA&FW Area (Thousand Hectares) Production (Thousand Bales) Yield (Kg./Ha.) State 2021-22 2022-23 2023-24 2024-25 2025-26 2021-22 2022-23 2023-24 2024-25 2025-26 2021-22 2022-23 2023-24 2024-25 2025-26 Andhra 554.00 704.00 422.00 404.00 542.00 1707.62 1540.52 737.26 1131.20 1211.53 524 372 297 476 380 Pradesh Gujarat 2283.70 2483.73 2683.32 2371.65 2095.79 7509.34 8795.33 9056.99 7156.80 6607.90 559 602 574 513 536 Haryana 635.60 574.61 577.68 398.46 393.51 1316.06 1000.50 1508.76 1176.63 974.52 352 296 444 502 421 Karnataka 674.00 949.00 743.00 678.00 881.00 1954.60 2567.88 2058.55 2273.29 2150.68 493 460 471 570 415 Madhya 560.00 595.00 630.00 537.00 559.00 1419.76 1433.25 1801.06 1535.19 1016.07 431 410 486 486 309 Pradesh Maharashtra 4409.97 4182.44 4234.47 4122.98 3854.73 8249.24 8315.67 8045.49 7372.86 7890.85 318 338 323 304 348 Odisha 193.11 216.31 216.31 238.62 239.41 625.91 704.92 704.92 822.54 849.20 551 554 554 586 603 Punjab 251.30 248.90 213.80 160.40 141.80 645.99 443.63 628.82 414.21 346.16 437 303 500 439 415 Rajasthan 755.86 814.61 1003.79 627.39 643.70 2480.99 2774.47 2621.66 1786.22 1794.78 558 579 444 484 474 Tamil Nadu 147.91 173.27 129.73 102.36 50.54 301.91 319.02 251.83 210.74 112.08 347 313 330 350 377 Telangana 1889.00 1972.90 1818.00 1812.31 2052.01 4878.06 5744.62 5079.71 5788.73 6083.61 439 495 475 543 504 Others 17.07 12.03 15.54 30.45 28.96 28.11 20.38 26.97 55.77 53.86 280 288 295 311 316 12371.5 12926.8 12687.6 11483.6 11482.4 33660.1 32522.0 29724.1 All India 31117.59 29091.24 428 443 436 440 431 2 0 4 2 5 9 2 8 Data for the year 2025-26 is of 2ⁿᵈ Advance Estimates # 1Bale=170 Kg Annexure-II 2024-25 2025-26* Cotton procurement Cotton procurement under MSP Approx. no. of under MSP Approx. no. of Value State Seed Value (Rs. in transactions Seed transactions Equivalent Equivalent (Rs. in cotton Crores) from farmers’(in cotton from farmers’(in Lint (Lakh Lint (Lakh Crores) (Lakhs lakhs) (Lakhs lakhs) Bales) Bales) Qntls) Qntls) Punjab 0.08 0.02 6.14 0.00 2.30 0.47 180 0.12 Haryana 3.00 0.62 219.72 0.12 9.91 2.04 777 0.47 Rajasthan 2.46 0.50 181.87 0.08 16.72 3.46 1,314 0.78 Gujarat 68.99 14.12 5,148.33 2.48 97.69 20.03 7,852 3.06 Maharashtra 144.55 29.41 10,714.29 6.27 136.93 27.98 10,883 6.71 MP 19.59 3.99 1,441.09 0.90 27.47 5.59 2,175 1.21 Telangana 210.20 40.38 15,556.95 8.92 163.42 31.73 12,974 9.30 AP 20.09 3.83 1,478.13 0.71 19.99 3.90 1,557 0.65 Karnataka 25.61 5.22 1,892.38 0.90 34.27 7.01 2,725 1.14 Orissa 10.74 2.06 796.90 0.38 13.68 2.70 1,080 0.46 West Bengal 0.01 0.002 0.92 0.00 0.01 0.00 1 0.00 Tamil Nadu 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 Total 505.33 100.16 37,436.73 20.77 522.39 104.91 41,518 23.90 *Position as on 19.03.2026 ****