Pune: Indias biggest sugar-producing state, Uttar Pradesh, appears to have favoured a 12 per cent increase in the government-set floor price for the sweetener even as farmers in another producing belt, Maharashtra, have begun agitations to secure payments for the cane already crushed at mills this season.
“As 65 per cent of the sugar produced in the country is used by institutional buyers, if the MSP (minimum support price) of sugar is increased from Rs 29/kg to Rs 32.50/ kg, it would not affect the consumers that adversely,” Sanjay Bhoosreddy, principal secretary, Sugar Industry and Cane Development Department, Uttar Pradesh, said.
“This move can also help sugar mills clear the cane payment to farmers,” he added.
To be sure, cane arrears have been rapidly increasing across the country as prices of the sweetener remain subdued amid an anticipated supply glut.
According to the Uttar Pradesh sugar commissionerate, sugar mills in the state have paid 40 per cent of the cane dues in the current year, while 96 per cent of the previous years dues have also been paid.
In Maharashtra, sugar mills had paid Rs 1,469.5 crore of the total Rs 5,026 crore of dues until December 15, or about 29 per cent of the current years arrears.
Significantly, a large number of sugar mills from Maharashtra havent paid any money to farmers even 50 days after buying their cane. The Swabhimani Shetkari Sanghatana, the main farmers organisation representing sugarcane growers in the state, resorted to violent agitations demanding payments. “If the cane dues are not paid, we will organise a massive morcha (protest march) to the headquarters of the sugar commissionerate on January 28,” said Raju Shetty, founder leader of the sanghatana.
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