Aska sugar factory hikes cane buying rate

The sugarcane growers in Ganjam district have some reason to joy. The management of the Aska Cooperative Sugar Industries Limited (ACSIL) has decided to increase the price of sugarcane by Rs 60 per tonne while procuring the cane from the farmers for the current crushing season.

The new rates of the sugarcane will be Rs 2,270 per tonne. Around 10,000 sugarcane growers in the district are expected to be benefited. The decision to increase the sugarcane price was taken at a meeting held between the officials of the ASCIL and the Ganjam district sugarcane growers’ association at Chhatrapur. District collector Krishan Kumar, who is also the chairman of the managing committee of the ACSIL, presided over the meeting.

“We have decided to increase the price of the sugarcane considering all aspects like the increase in fertilizer price, hike in labour rate and above all the financial condition of the industry,” Kumar said. The transport subsidy to the farmers will be applicable as usual, he added. The sugarcane growers’ association had demanded for increase in cane price from from Rs 2,210 per tonne to Rs 2,500 per tonne. “We have agreed with this price considering the financial health of ASCIL, the oldest sugar factory in the country in cooperative sector,” said the general secretary of the association, Samir Pradhan. He appealed to the factory authorities for early start of the crushing, so that the recovery percentage of the crop would be more. The recovery percentage of the sugarcane goes down as the crop dries up with lapse of time.