Arrears of over Rs 19,000 crore are due to be paid to sugarcane growers in 18 states, of which almost Rs 10,000 crore is owed to farmers in Uttar Pradesh alone, Lok Sabha was informed today.
There was also no proposal currently before the Centre to pay these arrears directly to the farmers, Food Minister Ram Vilas Paswan said in reply to questions.
The total cane price arrears for the sugar season as on March 31 was Rs 19,377 crore, compared to Rs 18,648 crore for the corresponding period in sugar season 2013-14, he said.
While arrears of sugar season as on that date for Uttar Pradesh stood at Rs 9715.69 crore, Rs 2864.5 crore worth of sugar price arrears was due to farmers in Maharashtra and Rs 2402.39 crore due to farmers in Karnataka.
Rs 842.46 crore was arrear amount in Tamil Nadu, while and Rs 682.28 crore was due to farmers of Punjab, he said.
Paswan said the state governments have various mechanisms to ensure that the farmers are paid the arrears by the sugar mill owners, including police and legal action.
On the basis of recommendations of Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices and after consultations with state governments and other stakeholders, he said the Centre has revised the fair and remunerative price (FRP) of sugarcane for sugar season 2015-16 to Rs 230 per quintal, linked to a basic recovery of 9.5 per cent with a premium of Rs 2.42 per quintal for every 0.1 per cent increase above that level.
The Minister said incentive scheme for promotion and marketing of raw sugar production targeted for exports has been extended for current sugar season 2014-15 for a quantity of 14 lakh MT at the rate of Rs 4,000 per MT.
He said the process for procurement of ethanol has also been simplified to smoothen the entire ethanol supply chain, he said.
