The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh News : Steps afoot to improve cotton ginning facilities

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Feb 26, 2005

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

Steps afoot to improve cotton ginning facilities

By Our Staff Reporter

KHAMMAM, FEB. 25. Moves are afoot to improve facilities for processing locally the cotton grown in the district. The initiative is aimed at adding value to the basic raw material and giving high returns to farmers who have been finding themselves at the receiving end despite being successful in growing it greater quantities year after year.

Cotton has emerged the main cash crop for farmers in the district and the extent of area under cotton is over 1.03 lakh hectares. Much of the cotton grown in the district is unique for its quality with good size of staple length ranging from 28 to 30 mm. The seed available also could produce more oil.

The market arrivals of cotton in the district are in the order of 12.38 lakh quintals -- highest in the State. The Cotton Corporation of India (CCI) has been purchasing a major portion of the yield. The CCI could purchase almost 11 lakh quintals of cotton from the district while private traders purchased another 1.7 lakh quintals so far this year.

Good demand

There is good demand for ginning facilities. But only two ginning units could come up with a capacity of 140 quintals a day at VV Palem. There is no bale pressing facility anywhere in the district. Much of the cotton procured here is going to ginning mills in Guntur and other neighbouring districts.

Taking into consideration the potential in the district, the Industries Department has taken up a programme to encourage more than four cotton ginning clusters with ten ginning units and a bale pressing unit per cluster. The raw cotton cleaning, ginning and post ginning operations are expected to enhance the employment potential in a big way.

Land for new units

Besides identifying the prospective entrepreneurs, the Industrial Department

has shouldered the responsibility of identifying land for the new units proposed. Tallada- a village on Khammam-Rajahmundry highway is likely to emerge the major cotton ginning centre in the days to come.

The Industries Department has arranged a meeting of prospective entrepreneurs with representatives of the official agencies concerned as well as leading ginning units and bankers. Steps are being taken for guiding them through the procedures, including gram panchayat permission, pollution clearance and firm registration under single window.

K. Prasada Rao, General Manager, District Industrial Centre, has said cotton ginning holds hope for entrepreneurs in the district where the granite industry reached the saturation. Bankers are also evincing interest in developing facilities aimed at adding value to cotton. The administration is keen on extending total support to the initiative.

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