Farmers Movement Archive

Cane farmers hit hard as half of local crushing units shut & mills talking stock at slow pace

Bijnor: With almost half of small and medium crushers shut due to the lockdown and mills purchasing the sugarcane stocks at a “slow pace” and in a limited capacity after issuing tickets, sugarcane farmers of western Uttar Pradesh are left in a lurch.Some of them are forced to sell their produce to small crushers, which are open, at much lower rate.As against the minimum support price (MSP) of Rs 325 per quintal, most sugarcane farmers are forced to sell their produce at much low rates, ranging between Rs 170 to Rs 200 per quintal to the few private crushers which are operating in the lockdown.According to an official estimate, sugar mills in UP owe Rs 11,600 crore dues to cane farmers. There are 119 sugar mills in UP which crush over 2,200 lakh tonne of sugarcane during the crushing season.According to officials, there are over 10,000 small crushers which produce jaggery and 200 crushers manufacture sugar.Over 50% of small crushers have been shut down because of labour crunch in lockdown.The burden of crushing is now on sugar mills.Besides, sugarcane production has also increased by 5 to 10% as compared to last year. Month of March witnessed heavy rain accompanied by hailstorm which affected harvesting of cane. Now, farmers are harvesting their crops very fast but they don’t have supply ticket as per their requirements.Digamber Singh, a BKU leader, said, “Around 25% crop is still standing in the fields. Mills have failed to provide supply tickets according to demands. This time harvesting got affected because of unseasonal rain. Later, lockdown hit local crushers. The small units which are operating have enough crops. They reduced cane prices from Rs 240 to 170 per quintal. Mills are not paying dues in time. What should the farmers do?”When contacted, additional cane commissioner VK Shukla said, “All mills will stop their operation only after crushing entire crop. The farmers who don’t have supply tickets and crop is standing in their field will be provided supply tickets after a survey.“This time operation of small crushers is hit. Therefore mills have come under pressure. But farmers need not be worry. Their crop will be purchased. In addition, we have asked all mill owners to pay the dues timely.”

The Times of India

2020-04-11

Bareilly