More than 90 per cent of the cane returns are spent by farmers. as cultivation cost and for repayment of crop loans. So how would these farmers survive for a year or more without receiving their entire produce amount by a sugar mill?
The sugar industry was unanimous in hailing the push given by the Narendra Modi government for the production of ethanol. The policy, which was unveiled a few weeks back allows for production of ethanol, directly from cane juice, sugar and both B heavy and C molasses. Differential pricing, the millers say, will help them in reducing the sugar glut with many of them diverting towards ethanol instead of sugar. While this policy is surely going to help the industry to get back on its feet, the question about farmer’s payment seems to have escaped the attention of the government.
At the start of a new crushing season, cane growers both in Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra are faced with a peculiar situation wherein their cost of production has gone up but their returns have actually dropped. In its own wisdom, the government has refused to raise the minimum Fair and Remunerative Price (FRP) at which mills are expected to buy cane from growers. The elephant in the room, which the government has failed to look, is the rising cost of production in terms of fertilizer and other input prices. For the salaried class, the pain of a farmer is something alien which is reflected in the decision not to raise FRP.
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