With the neighbouring Uttar Pradesh having announced the state advised price (SAP) of Rs205-210 for sugarcane last week, it is now the turn of Uttarakhand to follow suit for the new crushing season.
“We will announce our SAP only after November 25,” said Uttarakhand sugarcane secretary Om Prakash. Traditionally, Uttarakhand waits for the Uttar Pradesh’s announcement on the SAP in order to give better prices to its own farmers. Last year, the SAP in the state was Rs192-197 which was much higher than that of the neigbouring state, which was priced at Rs165.
Meanwhile, there are no plans to advance the dates of the crushing season. “The crushing season will only begin in the first week of December,” said Prakash.
The state government is expecting an increase of 17,000 hectare of sugarcane acreage for the 2010-2011 season which is 18 per cent as compared to the previous year, largely owing to a steep hike in the sugarcane price last season.
The sugarcane department said the total sugarcane acreage in the state in 2009-2010 was 93 lakh hectares which is now expected to reach 1.10 lakh hectares by the next year end. “Farmers were happy after they got the sugarcane price as high as Rs250-270 per quintal (inclusive of bonus) last year. Naturally, this season also, the area will increase further,” said a government official.
Though the state government is expecting a production of 492 lakh quintals of sugarcane in the coming season, it is hoping that the production would now touch as high as 605 lakh quintals, an increase of 22 per cent.
The cash crop is being cultivated in four districts of the hill state Udhamsingh Nagar, Nainital, Haridwar and Dehra Dun which have 14 sugarcane cooperative societies, with a total of 1.81 lakh farmers as their members.