On a recent afternoon, Mr. Singh’s wife, Sonal Ben, stood in the 95-degree heat, pulling puffs of cotton from the plants that have flowered, and depositing them into plastic bags. Mr. Singh will use his tractor to haul the crop to a trader in town.

The diesel that fuels his vehicle has increased in price by one-fifth. Yet when he brings his crop to market, he cannot recoup the additional costs.

“The traders decide on the price,” he said. “I don’t decide.”

The traders themselves insist they are themselves at the mercy of global forces, accepting whatever price is dictated by commodity pits from New York to São Paulo.

“Now, we are losing money,” said Prahlad Bhai Patel, owner of a cotton mill in Kadi.

Ordinarily, Mr. Patel’s company sells half the product to domestic factories that spin cotton, and exports the other half to China, Bangladesh, Vietnam and Pakistan.

Lately, he just piles up bales at a loading dock, waiting for better days. The price for his exports is now too low to cover his costs, he said.