Cotton trading in India’s Andhra Pradesh goes online

Following a series of scandals that hit cotton purchases during 2014-15, a gamut of reforms, including online trading in cotton, has been introduced by the Andhra Pradesh government to do away with middlemen and bring in transparency in auctions. 

The eCrop booking data system would be fed farmers’ details online and cross-checked at the time of trading, according to the new government changes.

Despite the Cotton Corporation of India (CCI) facilitating trading and stepping in when there is a price fall, the farmers have always been at the mercy of middlemen, who procure cotton bales at a lower price and sell them at a higher price.

State minister for civil supplies Prathipati Pulla Rao, who addressed a review meeting recently, asked farmers bringing in their produce to the yards to get their pattadar passbooks and Aadhaar cards and urged them to sell cotton only through the agricultural market committees, according to a report in top South Indian daily.

CCI is ready to buy cotton at the minimum support price and will start 43 procurement centres across the state, the report added.