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The Uttar Pradesh government on Wednesday retained last year’s state advised price (SAP) for sugarcane for the 2013-14 crushing season.
SAP remains at Rs 280 a quintal for the common variety, which accounts for most of the sugarcane grown in the state. The prices for early and rejected/unsuitable varieties of cane have been retained at Rs 290 a quintal and Rs 275 a quintal, respectively. Last year, SAP was announced on December 7; for the common variety, it was increased about 17 per cent.
Farmers in the state had been demanding an increase in cane prices to Rs 350 a quintal, owing to the steep rise in input costs, including diesel and farm labour. Private mills have stuck to their stand that cane priced more than Rs 225 a quintal isn’t viable, when even banks weren’t giving them working capital.
On Tuesday, the crisis related to sugarcane prices in the state worsened, following private sugar millers notifying the suspension of operations due to an impasse over sugarcane prices. By Tuesday evening, about 65 mills had submitted notices of suspension of operations at the Uttar Pradesh cane commissioner’s office here. More mills submitted the notices on Wednesday.
Abinash Verma, director-general of the Indian Sugar Mills Association, said the announcement of a cane price as unviable as last year’s would only lead to cane price arrears exceeding Rs 12,000-13,000 crore in March-April 2014. “This SAP is unviable, and much beyond the paying capacity of the mills of Uttar Pradesh of Rs 225 a quintal. At these prices, it will be difficult to convince banks to extend loans or ensure mills start crushing in 2013-14,” he added.
The private sector accounts for 99 units of 123 operational sugar mills in Uttar Pradesh. The rest come under the cooperative sector. Some cooperative units have already started crushing operations.
The millers still owe about Rs 2,400 crore to farmers for the 2012-13 season. These millers have expressed helplessness in clearing the arrears, owing to losses in past years.
Flak from Opposition
Opposition parties have lashed out at the government, saying the announced support price was inadequate and not in keeping with the cost incurred by farmers. “The government has betrayed the farmers and we demand a price beneficial to growers be declared,” said Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) national secretary Anil Dubey. With the price announced on Wednesday, he said, farmers would not be able to recover costs.
The RLD, scheduled to protest outside the cane commissioner’s office on Thursday, would demand mills start crushing immediately and all arrears and interest be paid at once, Dubey added.
Bharatiya Janata Party spokesman Vijay Bahadur Pathak said, “When Haryana can announce a cane price as high as Rs 300 a quintal, why not Uttar Pradesh? In its manifesto, the Samajwadi Party had promised to set up a commission for setting the price of farmers’ produce. But now, it has gone back on it.”
Congress spokesman Dwijendra Tripathi said this was the first government that had issued a programme for the cane-crushing season before announcing the price.
