The Aska Cooperative Sugar Industries Limited (ACSI) on Sunday, decided to pay Rs 1700 per tonne of sugarcane to the farmers during the ensuing crushing season beginning January 20 this year.
The factory management has also decided to provide transportation fees for carrying the sugarcane from the field to the factory, located near Aska, about 45 km from here.
This was decided at a crucial meeting between the factory management and the officials of the Ganjam District Sugarcane Growers’ Association at Chhatrapur, the district headquarter town of Ganjam district.
“This is the highest amount to be paid to the sugarcane growers by the factory authorities since its inception. We hope the farmers will be satisfied with the decision”, said V K Pandian, the Ganjam district collector and chairman of ACSI's managing committee.
The sugarcane growers have agreed to accept the decision of the factory management even though the revised price has not been satisfactory.
“The price fixed by the factory management is not satisfactory given the prevailing market price of sugar, but we have agreed to accept it”, said Sameer Pradhan, general secretary, Ganjam District Sugarcane Growers’ Association (GDSGA).
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Last year, the factory had fixed the sugarcane price at Rs 1200 per tonne, while the farmers had to bear the transportation charges to carry the sugarcane to the factory.
The factory authorities, however, were forced to revise the procurement price, when the sugarcane cultivators under the banner of GDSGA demanded a price of Rs 2200 per tonne.
The factory has targeted to crush around 40,000 tonnes of sugarcane this fiscal. In the last fiscal, the factory had crushed around 74,284 tonnes and produced 68,060 quintals of sugar, sources said. In 2007-08, the factory had crushed 1, 42,786 tonnes of sugarcane and produced 1, 20,675 quintals of sugar. While the factory had run for about 116 days in 2007-08, it was reduced to only 51 days in 2008-09.
“The shortage of raw material was the main cause of the reduction in the number of functioning days of the factory”, said a senior officer of ACSI.