SARLAHI, Dec 15: The sugarcane farmers in Sarlahi district have expressed their objection to the minimum support price fixed by the government.

KATHMANDU, Dec 11: Sugarcane farmers are yet to receive Rs 520 million in subsidies promised by the government.

SARLAHI, April 16: Farmers of Sarlahi have stopped the export of sugar demanding payment of arrears of sugarcane. The farmers have taken three trucks of sugar in control that were headed for Kathmandu since Wednesday as the operator of Mahalakshmi Sugar Mill Bagdaha in Godaita Municipality has not paid the dues of sugarcane purchased from the farmers in the current fiscal year.

KATHMANDU, March 4: Sugarcane production declined by almost half in the past three years after farmers turned apathetic to planting the raw material of sugar, citing the delay in getting payment from the sugar mills.

KATHMANDU, Jan 5: Sugarcane farmers are yet to receive their payment for their produce, despite frequent directives by the parliamentary committee to the government to clear their dues.

KATHMANDU, Dec 27: Sugarcane farmers are yet to receive Rs 126.40 million in outstanding dues from sugar mills.

KATHMANDU, August 23: Sugarcane farmers have urged the government to help them get the past dues of their sold out products from the sugar producers.

KATHMANDU, July 30: Sugarcane farmers, who arrived in Kathmandu to seek government’s help to settle dues that owners of sugarcane factories owe to them, have warned of stringent protests if their demands are not met by August 21.

KATHMANDU, March 19: The government is all set to start listing the sugarcane farmers to resolve the problem of the farmers who struggle almost every year to receive payment for their products sold to the sugar mills.

BUTWAL, Feb 14: Until a decade ago, 3.2 million quintals of sugarcane was produced in West Nawalparasi. Three sugar mills in the district used to crush sugarcane for three consecutive months. An average of 288,000 quintals of sugar used to be produced. But the constant controversy the sugar industry has been mired in and the government's indifference toward the issue, have brought down not only the sugarcane farmers but also the sugar industry.

KATHMANDU, Feb 1: Sugar mills have started facing a shortage of raw material as many farmers decided not to plant sugarcane citing the struggle they are forced to undergo just to receive the payments for their produce every year.

KATHMANDU, Jan 21: Sugarcane farmers on Thursday announced to launch protests again, stating that both the government and sugar mills do not maintain transparency in settling the outstanding dues of the farmers.

Nepal requires a more comprehensive solution to reduce the risk of price volatility and payment default in the sugarcane industry.

KATHMANDU, Jan 20: Sugarcane farmers have once again been ‘tricked’ by the government and sugar mills, as the farmers failed to receive full payments for sugarcane bought by the mills over the past several years, within the new deadline set by the state organ.

BUTWAL, Jan 3: The Lumbini Sugar Mills of Nawalparasi has expressed commitment to ‘resolve internal problems’ and start paying the can farmers within a week. It has stated that it will clear all dues of farmers before mid-January as per the agreement with the government. Manoj Agrawal, proprietor of the mill, has been released after he expressed his written commitment to start paying the farmers within a week. Agarwal was arrested from Parsa on Thursday. He was brought to Nawalparasi on the same night.

KATHMANDU, Jan 1: Sugarcane farmers, who have launched capital-centric protests to draw the government’s attention to mount pressure on the sugar mills to clear the dues of the farmers, have warned to launch stern decisive protests from next week, alleging that the government authorities are not serious about resolving the problems of the farmers.

KATHMANDU, Dec 31: The Police on Thursday arrested Manoj Agrawal, proprietor of Lumbini Sugar Mill, on the charge of not paying the price of sugarcane to farmers.  Lumbini Sugar Mill owes nearly Rs 100 million to the farmers.

KATHMANDU, Dec 28: Sugarcane farmers who have been staging sit-in protests in the capital city for the past two weeks agreed to call off their protests after the government agreed to address all the grievances of the agitating farmers.

KATHMANDU, Dec 22: The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has asked the stakeholders concerned to settle the outstanding dues of sugarcane farmers with a sense of urgency.

RAUTAHAT, Dec 20: Shree Ram Sugar Mills of Garuda, Rautahat has started  depositing money in farmers’ accounts. The industry operator, who was forced to pay the arrears due to the pressure from all quarters, has sent Rs 350 million to the farmers as payment against sugarcane.

KATHMANDU, Dec 17: After having been deceived time and again by sugar mills and even by the government, sugarcane farmers from the southern plains of the country have continued their protest in Kathmandu for the second consecutive year.

KATHMANDU: After having been deceived time and again by the sugar mills and even by the government, sugarcane farmers from the southern Plains of Nepal have continued their protest in Kathmandu for the second consecutive year.

KATHMANDU, Dec 16: The Police have issued arrest warrants against operators of four sugar mills for not paying the sugarcane farmers.

KATHMANDU, Dec 15: The government is preparing to arrest the proprietors of sugar mills who have been refusing to clear the longstanding dues of sugarcane farmers supplying them the sweet crop.

KATHMANDU, Dec 15: Sugarcane farmers on Tuesday staged a protest with their citizenship certificates and receipts for sold sugarcane after the Minister of Industry, Commerce and Supplies claimed that they are not the farmers but middlemen.

KATHMANDU, Dec 14: Bowing to the pressure of the agitating sugarcane farmers, both the government and the sugar mill owners have expressed their promptness to clear outstanding dues of the agitating farmers.

KATHMANDU, Dec 14: The agitating sugarcane farmers have demanded that the government guarantee that their outstanding dues for their produce will be cleared before they sit for the talks.

“Mill owners took our canes, processed them to sugar, sold it and earned lucrative profits. However, we are still empty-handed. We are neck-deep into debt as we have borrowed money from the local moneylenders and financial institutions.”

KATHMANDU, Dec 13: Nearly a year after their agreement with the government in which the latter expressed commitment to ensure timely payments for their produce, sugarcane farmers, who have not been paid by sugar mills for as many as the past six years, have launched protests in Maitighar Mandala, Kathmandu.

KATHMANDU, Dec 13: Bibeksheel Sajha Party on Sunday expressed its solidarity to the agitation staged by the sugarcane farmers demanding the outstanding payment from the sugar factories for their produce used as raw material for sugar.

KATHMANDU, Dec 2: Sugarcane farmers are yet to receive a due amount worth Rs 481 million from four sugar producers, namely Shree Ram Sugar Mill, Annapurna Sugar Mill, Indira Sugar Mill and Lumbini Sugar Mill.

Cane farmers hand over memorandum with ultimatum to Industry Minister Bhatta

KATHMANDU, Oct 11: Sugarcane farmers have sought the government’s intervention to settle their payment dues concerning Shree Ram Sugar Mills which remains shut since July 26.

KATHMANDU, Sept 11: Sugar mills are yet to clear dues worth more than Rs 500 million of the sugarcane farmers despite their earlier commitment to settle all the outstanding dues after selling the products.

NAWALPARASI, March 7: Sugarcane farmers of Nawalparasi are still waiting for their payments worth Rs 190 million from two sugar mills in the region. The government and sugar industrialists had signed an agreement to pay all the remaining payment to sugarcane farmers within January 21.

KANCHANPUR, Feb 1: Sugarcane farmers have been compelled to sell sugarcane at the price set by the sugar mills instead of the floor price set by the government at Rs 536.56 per quintal, which includes the government subsidy of Rs 65.28 per quintal.

KATHMANDU, Jan 30: Sugarcane farmers have warned that they will start protesting again as they have yet to receive full payment of their dues from both the sugar mills and the government even a week after the agreed deadline.

BARA, Jan 27: Sugarcane farmers shared their grievances with Lekhraj Bhatta, the Minister for Industry, Commerce and Supplies about the problems they have been facing with sugar mill owners.

NAWALPARASI, Jan 25: Sugarcane farmers in the country were ecstatic when the sugar mills agreed, after the government's pressure, to clear all pending dues to the farmers within January 21.  But the sugar mill owners have yet to clear the dues and the farmers are worried that they will be tricked again.

Keep your promise

January 23, 2020 08:43 am

When the sugarcane farmers from the Tarai plains came to Kathmandu with their legitimate demands around three weeks ago, there was almost nobody to listen to them. Only after media reports brought out the stories of injustice done to them—they had not been paid by the sugar mill owners for years—the public stood in their favor and mounted pressure on the government to address their demands.  The farmers braved the cold of Kathmandu and struggled for more than a week. Only then the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supplies (MoICS) signed a five-point deal with the agitating farmers.

KATHMANDU, Jan 22: Sugarcane farmers, who were hopeful of receiving their outstanding payments from sugar producers by this week, have been left disappointed yet again.

SARLAHI, Jan 8: The Mahalaxmi Sugar Mills in Bagadaha of Gaudaita municipality-6 will come into operation from today. The Mills is resuming its operation after the Proprietor Birendra Kanaudia deposited the due amount of sugarcane farmers in the bank on Tuesday.

Solidarity with sugarcane farmers

January 5, 2020 09:54 am

For more than two weeks sugarcane farmers from Tarai staged protests in Kathmandu against mill owners until the government signed a deal to address all their concerns on Friday. The farmers, who provide raw materials for sugar by selling which the mill owners make huge profits, have not been paid for years. In fact, getting the payment for their products has been a long ordeal for them.  They staged protests in their respective districts and drew the attention of the district authorities too.

KATHMANDU, Jan 4: The agitating sugarcane farmers have called off their protest following a five-point agreement with the government Friday.

KATHMANDU, Jan 3: Agitating sugarcane farmers and the government on Friday evening reached a five-point agreement regarding outstanding payments to be received by the farmers from the sugar mill owners.

KATHMANDU, Jan 3: It is drizzling outside amidst chilly weather. A fire is lit in a headpan fuelled by pieces of wood and husk inside a small tent. Some people are huddled around the fire hoping for a happy future. This is the scenario at the local Maitighar Mandala. They are the sugarcane farmers who have come all the way from the Tarai to make their voices heard in the federal capital.

KATHMANDU, Jan 3: The government has vowed to resolve the payment issue of sugarcane within three weeks.

Bitter struggle behind sweet sugar

January 3, 2020 08:07 am

KATHMANDU, Jan 3: Sugarcane is crushed to make sugar that sweetens our mouth. But the difficulties that sugarcane farmers in Nepal have had these last few years speak in volumes about their bitter struggle.

KATHMANDU, Jan 2: Minister for Industry, Commerce and Supplies, Lekhraj Bhatta has said the problems of the sugar mills and the sugarcane farmers would be resolved by the third week of this month.

KATHMANDU, Jan 2: The agitating sugarcane farmers on Thursday served a seven-day ultimatum to the government to address their demands at the earliest.