BKU activists burn sugarcane outside UP assembly, demand MSP

Bharatiya Kisan Union activists today burnt sugarcane outside the Uttar Pradesh Assembly here to press their demand for a bigger hike in the minimum support price.
Raising slogans against the state government, the farmers also burnt potato and paddy to protest what they said was a paltry increase in the MSP.
The protest comes a day after the Uttar Pradesh government hiked state advisory price of sugarcane for 2017-18 crushing season by about 3 per cent.
The government increased SAP by Rs 10 per quintal for different varieties of the crop.
The farmers alleged that government had befooled farmers in the name of loan waiver and now by increasing SAP by just Rs 10.

Sugarcane is a major cash crop in UP where over 40 lakh rural households are engaged in cane farming. Sugarcane is also a politically sensitive issue, especially in western UP.
The state government this season is targetting sugar production of almost 10 million tonnes (MT), which would be 15 per cent higher compared to the output of nearly 8.75 MT clocked during 2016-17.
In Muzaffarnagar also, hundreds of Bharatiya Kisan Union activists staged a demonstration outside the office of the district magistrate and burnt sugar cane crop in protest.