 "Farmers transport sugarcane to a sugar factory in Maharashtra.")
Even as the 2023-24 sugarcane crushing season nears its end, electioneering for the 2024 Lok Sabha (LS) polls is intensifying in the eponymous Jatland and the sugarcane belt of Western Uttar Pradesh (UP).
Nearly 5 million households are engaged in sugarcane farming in UP, contributing to an annual cane economy estimated at Rs 50,000 crore.
Understandably, political parties are vying for the support of the farming community to reap a rich electoral harvest.
UP stands as the country’s leading sugarcane, sugar, and ethanol producer.
In the 2022-23 season, the state saw a cane area of nearly 2.85 million hectares and production of 235 million tonnes. The state boasts a total of 120 sugar mills, with the private sector dominating with 93 factories.
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The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is betting on its track record of cane payments exceeding Rs 2.25 trillion over the past six/seven years in UP. Additionally, they highlight their efforts in increasing the state cane price and liberalising the ethanol sector.
In contrast, the Opposition, particularly the Samajwadi Party, is raising concerns regarding cane arrears, farm distress, and what they perceive as “paltry” hikes in cane and other farm support prices.
Earlier, UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath claimed to have waived loans for 8.6 million farmers since 2017, presenting a contrast to the farmer suicides seen during previous regimes.
In January 2024, the Yogi government increased the UP cane price by Rs 20 per quintal (100 kilogram) for various cane varieties. However, this hike was criticised by Bharatiya Kisan Union leaders Naresh Tikait and Rakesh Tikait as insufficient, arguing that it failed to offset the rising prices of farm inputs such as agricultural equipment, labour, pesticides, and fuel.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, addressing a rally in Meerut, expressed his government’s commitment to transform the nation’s sugarcane belts into “energy belts”, highlighting the potential of ethanol as a fuel. While sugarcane is cultivated across the state, it predominantly thrives in Western UP, with districts like Bijnor, Muzaffarnagar, Meerut, Bareilly, Shamli, Baghpat, and Saharanpur leading in cultivation.
Polling for the multi-phase LS elections in UP commenced in Western UP districts, explaining the intense focus of political parties on the sugar bowl. Adityanath, in his rallies, emphasises his government’s timely cane payments compared to previous administrations, where payments were allegedly delayed.
Interestingly, the BJP’s farmer outreach extends beyond sugarcane to encompass the entire farming community, including peasants and sharecroppers across the 75 districts. Of the estimated 23 million farm households in UP, nearly 21 million, or over 90 per cent, are small and marginal farmers with fragmented land holdings.
The small and marginal farmers received benefits under a Rs 36,000 crore farm loan waiver scheme when the Adityanath Government 1.0 assumed office in March 2017.
Economist and sociologist A P Tiwari noted prompt payment to cane farmers, an increase in minimum support price, Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi, crop insurance, adoption of new technologies like drones and artificial intelligence, and promotion of millets as crucial farm initiatives under the BJP regime. He added that these measures have the potential to boost income and generate rural employment, which the saffron party aims to leverage in the polls.
However, he cautioned that indifferent and floating voters could impact both the ruling and Opposition parties equally, with clearer trends emerging as polling progresses.
