The government is focusing on making the India sugar industry export-oriented with stable prices, and farmers need to be paid adequately to make sugarcane remunerative, a Union minister said today.
"The government's main objective is to ensure full and timely payment for sugarcane farmers. Sugar mills were accumulatively holding a total cane arrears of Rs 21,837 crore in 2014 of which 99 per cent have been paid to farmers so far.
"A small sum is still left unpaid for the crushing seasons 2016 and 2017 and the government is working to get it cleared," Minister for State, Food & Public Distribution C R Choudhary said here.
After inaugurating a three-day AISTA Sugar Conclave 2017, Choudhary said that farmers need to be paid adequately to make sugarcane remunerative and ensure they do not switch to other crops like oilseeds and pulses.
"Farmers frequently switches to the crop which fetched higher prices during the previous season. Thus, the government wants to make sugar industry an export-oriented rather than import - oriented, with stable price which includes the cost of production, transportation and the sustainable profits for the entire value chain," the minister said.
The All India Sugar Traders Association (AISTA) has organised the conclave to deliberate challenges and issues faced by participants of the entire sugar value chain - from farmers to traders and sugar mills.
Around 55 million people are engaged in sugarcane farming. Additionally, around 500,000 people are employed across sugar factories along with other participants in the value chain across entire 700 sugar factories across the country.
Choudhary said the government faces three major challenges - to ensure farmers' timely and realistic (Fair and Remunerative Price or FRP), mills get adequate profit to run their business and consumers buy sugar at an affordable price.
"The government is monitoring both wholesale and retail price of sugar on daily basis. We found that the wholesale (sugar) price stands at Rs 35 a kg and the retail rate is Rs 44 a kg. Why such a vast difference? We found that retailers are building stocks and not releasing the quantity adequately."
To address the problem, the government levied stock limit for both September and October. In November, however, there will production for the new season, he added.
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