HYDERABADThe State Government has decided to open 131 cotton procurement centres of the Cotton Corporation of India (CCI) during 2026-27 cotton marketing season against 122 centres opened in 2025-26. Minister for Agriculture Tummala Nageswara Rao on Tuesday reviewed the preparedness of cotton procurement this season with the officials of the CCI, agriculture and marketing departments. He asked the authorities to prevent any role, whatsoever, for the middlemen in the cotton procurement exercise since most of the farming community who raise the crop were small and marginal farmers and cultivate the crop as rain-fed. The minister stated that cotton cultivation was estimated at about 46.33 lakh acres this year and the production was likely to be 25.85 lakh tonnes. Apart from the CCI procurement centres, it was also decided to notify 356 ginning mills in the State as cotton purchase centres.