Sugarcane tastes bitter for AP farmers

​Vijayawada: Almost half of the sugarcane farmers are switched over to other crops as the fair and remunerative price (FRP) declared by the Centre had failed to impress them.

The state government, which is supposed to come to the rescue of farmers by appointing State Advisory Committee and announce State Advisory Price (SAP), has failed to react.

As a result, sugarcane farmers are worried about their future. The farmers want the government to announce common price without any delay.

The sugarcane issue has gained significance as the farmers have to send their produce to factories for crushing from November 15. Making the crisis worse, a dozen out of total 29 sugar factories in the state are closed.

There was no hike in sugarcane price and the Union government had announced Rs 2,300 SRP per tonne this year too, sugarcane farmers complained.

While the sugarcane price is at its low in the state, the scenario in other states is different. Punjab, Haryana, Uttarakhand topped with Rs 3,100 per tonne followed by Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh offering Rs 2,800 price, informed Y Kesava Rao, vice-president of AP Sugarcane Farmers’ Association.

Kesava Rao alleged that the state government was not using Rs 36 crore per season being collected from sugar factories towards purchase tax.

The state was taxing Rs 60 per tonne of the sugarcane crushed. He said private factories offered Rs 2,550 FRP last year compared to Rs 2,300 offered at cooperative sugar factories.

Crushing has already started in Chittoor district while the same would begin in other districts. He said sugarcane farmers invest Rs 60,000 to Rs 1 lakh per acre of the crop depending on the area and local conditions.

The cultivation area has also come down from 1.5 lakh hectares to 75,000 hectares this season as the farmers were unhappy with the price. The government should convene a joint meeting of factory managements, farmers, officials and ministers, he added.

Association secretary Haribabu charged both Central and State governments with surrendering to sugar factory lobby, which was not allowing the governments to favour farmers. He said farmers suffered losses in the range of Rs 200 to Rs 450 crore because of the meagre price for produce.

The banks were also not giving loans to farmers properly. Tenant farmers were the worst affected. The proposal to offer Rs 100 extra for each tonne of sugarcane for tenant farmers was also not being implemented. Most of the tenant farmers use bullock-cart for transportation of sugarcane to the factories.

But the bullock-carts were not being given permits. On the other hand, sugarcane farmers were not allowed to share the income from the byproducts, he alleged.

Commissioner of sugar and cane Murali said that he brought the issues raised by the farmers during a recent dharna at his office to the Union government to take action.

By: Noor Shaik