State hikes sugarcane price,farmers say not enough

The chief minister said the fair and remunerative price (FRP) announced by the Centre was only Rs 139 per quintal on 9.5 per cent sugar recovery. In UP,it would work out to just Rs 133.26 per quintal because sugar recovery in the last season was only 9.1 per cent,she said.

Last year,the state government had fixed SAP at Rs 160,165 and Rs 170 per quintal for the three varieties. Later, in the face of an agitation by farmers,it had announced a bonus of Rs 20 per quintal over and above the SAP. However,the farmers actually got a much higher price because of shortage of sugarcane.

Mayawati alleged that there was frustration among the farmers over the FRP fixed by the Centre and demanded that the Centre should change its price-fixing process. She said the state government had hiked the SAP by Rs 25 per quintal last year,and in the last two years,the hike effected in SAP by the state was the highest,“as compared to that ordered by previous governments,or other states”.

She said officials had been directed to ensure that mills start crushing the sugarcane at the earliest,so that the fields were emptied in time for the sowing of the rabi crop.

The sugar industry expressed its disappointment at the fixation of SAP,saying that unless sugar price touched Rs 3,000 per quintal,private sugar mills will not be able to pay this price. “It will lead to unpaid arrears and other problems,” said Shyamlal Gupta,secretary of the Indian Sugar Mills Association (ISMA). The ISMA executives will meet in Delhi on November 8 to decide their next move. They will discuss whether they should make a representation to the Uttar Pradesh government or challenge the SAP in the Allahabad High Court.

The reaction from farmers’ organisations was opposite to that of millers.

“The SAP announced today is neither historic nor highest-ever and the chief minister is trying to mislead the farmers. In the last season,the SAP,including the bonus,was Rs 190 per quintal and the millers actually paid farmers Rs 260-265 per quintal. The CM’s claim does not stand the scrutiny of facts,” said V M Singh,who heads Rashtriya Kisan Mazdoor Sangathan,affiliated to the Congress.