Bathinda, Oct. 2 -- The Cotton Corporation of India (CCI), a central agency, on Thursday started procuring the cash crop of cotton at the minimum support price (MSP) at 13 locations across four districts of the semi-arid Malwa region. Muktsar will have a maximum of four purchase centres each, along with three centres each in Bathinda, Mansa and Fazilka. These centres have been connected with 25 cotton ginning factories. The corporation has also opened an additional procurement centre at Fazilka's Sito Gunno while two centres in Maur (Bathinda) and Tapa (Barnala) have been closed this year due to low crop production prospects. According to Punjab Mandi Board data, more than 40,000 quintals of cotton had arrived across the south Malwa districts till Wednesday, and most of it was purchased below the MSP. CCI enters the market only when private buyers pay less than the MSP. Officials said Punjab was likely to produce 3.5 lakh quintals even as the state reported 80,000 hectares under cotton cultivation-the lowest ever registered for state's traditional crop. They said as cotton arrival was slow, the CCI was likely to start purchases on October 5. For the current rabi marketing season, the Centre has fixed Rs.8,417 per quintal for medium staple length cotton grown in Punjab. Fazilka district mandi officer Salod Bishnoi said till September 30, about 28,000 quintals of cotton had reached the mandis. "Farmers are being paid between Rs.8,000-8,400 per quintal. We expect higher quality as farmers bring more cotton in the coming weeks," said Bishnoi. Stakeholders said with CCI's arrival, the cotton prices may stabilise as harvesting of the non-perishable crop will pick up soon. They said CCI will buy cotton from farmers who registered themselves on the "Kapas Kisan" app, introduced last year. "Nearly 15,000 cotton growers enrolled with the CCI mobile app in the last kharif harvesting season. This year, fewer than 15 farmers have enrolled. The initiative was rolled out in all cotton-growing states for transparent and seamless procurement of the cash crop," said an official. The mobile initiative empowers farmers with self-registration, slot booking for sale and payment tracking, bringing greater transparency, convenience and speed to the cotton procurement process, officials said....