Ministry of Industry (MoI) fixed the minimum support price at Rs 461 per quintal on Thursday, after it failed to forge consensus among farmers and sugar mill operators on minimum support price.
Farmers say the government decision serves the interest of mill operators. Issuing a statement on Friday, Sugarcane Producers Association condemned the decision, saying that it was taken without farmers’ consent. The association also argued that the minimum support price won’t event cover their cost of production.
“A report of Ministry of Agricultural Development (MoAD) shows that cost of production of sugarcane has increased by 15.22 percent this year. But the government has lowered minimum support price by Rs 15 per quintal compared to last year. This is unacceptable to us,” Umesh Chandra Yadav, president of the committee, said.
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The government had fixed minimum support price of sugarcane at Rs 476 per quintal last year. Citing rise in cost of production, farmers had been demanding that the government continue last year’s price this year as well.
Farmers also say the government took the decision coming into pressure from sugar mill operators. “Clearly, the decision has been taken to serve the interests of mills. Low minimum support price is sure to effect sugarcane production next seasons,” Yadav said.
Sugarcane farmers have expressed dissatisfaction over the decision of the government and sugar mill operators to cut promotional price of Rs 25 per quintal that farmers had been receiving.
Meanwhile, farmers say mill operators are reluctant to purchase sugarcane at the price fixed by the government. Sugar mill operators had been saying that they cannot pay farmers more than Rs 411 per quintal this season, arguing that price of sugar has come down by Rs 10 per kg over the past year.
Jit Bahadur Thapa, joint secretary of Ministry of Industry (MoI), said the government was forced to fix minimum support price unilaterally as the ministry was under pressure from the cabinet to fix the price at the earliest.
The cabinet, in the third week of February, had directed MoI to fix minimum support price unilaterally after efforts to forge consensus among farmers and mill operators failed.
