Staggered pricing

Govt should avoid populist measures in cane pricing

The suggestions by the Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices (CACP) to pay sugarcane prices to farmers in tranches and stop reserving cane areas for sugar mills have their pros and cons that need to be weighed carefully. The proposed measures affect the interests of both the cane growers and the sugar industry but in a mutually conflicting manner. Their implementation at this stage would amount to needless meddling in a sector that, for a change, is showing signs of becoming financially self-reliant and globally price-competitive.

The concept of staggering the payment of cane prices to the growers, advocated by the