The weekly auction of cotton and onion introduced at the Regulated Market at Thuraiyur been largely been welcomed by farmers.
Closed bid auction was done for cotton for 17 weeks on every Wednesday from February 5 to May 28 at the market. During this period, cotton farmers from Thuraiyur, Uppiliapuram, Thottiyam, and Musiri blocks brought 1,214 quintals of cotton for auction. In the auctions, farmers got a maximum price of Rs. 53 a kg, minimum of Rs. 47 a kg and on an average Rs. 49 a kg. Total of 4,163 bags of cotton were auctioned at a cost of Rs. 57.85 lakh. As many as 805 farmers benefitted out of the auction. Fifteen traders took part in the auction.
Auctions for onions were held for 14 weeks from July 16 to October 15. Onion farmers of Thuraiyur, Uppiliapuram, Thottiyam, Thathaiyengarpet, and Musiri blocks brought 58.57 tonnes of onions cultivated by them for auction. They got a maximum price of Rs. 23.50 a kg, minimum price of Rs. 11 a kg and average price of Rs. 17.25 a kg. Total of 413 bags of onions were auctioned at a cost of Rs. 7.36 lakh. Two hundred and twenty five farmers and 17 traders benefitted out of this. All the farmers who auctioned their onions and cotton were paid money immediately by the traders at the market.
“About Rs. 65 lakh worth of cotton and onions were auctioned by the Regulated Market in 14 weeks,” said M. Ravi, Secretary, Tiruchi Marketing Committee, and R. Chandrasekar, Deputy Director, Agribusiness. The auctions were arranged following the demand made by farmers in the monthly grievances day meeting to Collector Jayashree Muralidharan for providing marketing facility for their produce.
“In the Regulated markets, commission is not taken from farmers. From traders, no fee is collected. The markets provide direct purchasing facility to farmers from traders. Closed bidding is yet another advantage for farmers,” said Mr. Ravi.
Nine regulated markets are functioning under the control of Tiruchi Marketing Committee. They are functioning in Tiruchi, Manapparai, Thuraiyur, Mannachanallur, Lalgudi, Thottiyam, Thuvarankurichi, Thathaiyengarpet, and Kattuputhur. In Tiruchi district, cotton and onion are cultivated on 12,000 hectares of land and on 3,500 hectares of land respectively in non-delta areas such as Thathaiyengarpet, Thuraiyur, Uppiliapuram, Thottiyam, and Manachanallur.
Farmers who benefitted out of the auction said they were happy.
A. Inbasekaran, a cotton farmer of Okkarai village, said he auctioned 84 quintals of cotton at Thuraiyur regulated market for Rs. 5,23,000. P. Seetharaman, another cotton farmer of the same village, said he could store cotton in advance in the regulated market for auction. “If the price is not good, we store the cotton for a week in the market and sell it when the price is good,” said Mr. Seetharaman. Cotton farmers demanded Individual Farmers Crop Insurance. Saravanan, onion farmer of Mahadevi Pudur in Thathaiyengarpet union, said he got the money for the onions sold by him in the regulated market immediately from traders.
T. Srinivasan, another onion farmer from Renganathapuram, said that commission was not collected in the regulated market from farmers.
