It’s sweet news for the sugarcane growers in Ganjam district. The managing committee of the Aska Cooperative Sugar Industry Limited (ACSIL) on Tuesday decided to buy sugarcane from the farmers during the current crushing season at Rs 2000 per tonne, around Rs 300 more than the last year’s rate.
“We have decided to fix the sugarcane price at Rs 2000 per tonne, the highest ever offered”, said district collector and chairman, ACSIL, VK Pandian. The price fixation of sugarcane was done after discussion with the office bearers of the Ganjam district sugarcane growers’ association.
The factory authorities have also agreed to provide the transport cost for sugarcane hauled from a distance of more than 10 km from the factory. Within the 10-km radius, the farmers have to bear the transport cost.
“We have hiked the price this year to encourage more and more farmers to cultivate sugarcane”, Pandian said.
Last year, ACSIL, the oldest sugar factory in the state crushed only 43,000 tonnes of sugarcane. This time, the factory aims to crush around 75,000 tonnes of cane and set aside another 7,000 tonnes for preparation of seed.
The sugarcane growers association had demanded for fixing the sugarcane price at Rs 2500 per tonne this time. But they later agreed to settle at Rs 2000 per tonne. “We have agreed on the price decided by ACSIL and will soon start our supplies as per schedule”, said secretary of the association, Samir Pradhan.
Besides Pradhan, other officials of the association including its president and former MP, DK Panda, vice president and MP (Aska), Nityanand Pradhan, Rajya Sabha MP, Renubala Pradhan and other members were present in the price fixation committee meeting held at Chhatrapur, about 30-km from here.
The leaders of the association have urged the factory authorities to start crushing activity in the factory early so as to ensure higher recovery percentage.
