Sugarcane price: Pressure builds on Uttarakhand to follow UP's lead

Experts say state would leave price unchanged this year, at Rs 285-295 a quintal

After setting up a committee to declare the price of sugarcane, the Uttarakhand government is yet to decide the state-advised price (SAP) for 2013-14 in the state; the crushing season begins on November 26.

A day after Uttar Pradesh kept its cane price unchanged at Rs 280 a quintal, pressure mounted on Uttarakhand to declare its own price. Sugarcane additional secretary Vinod Sharma said the government would declare the price shortly as a committee set up to assess the SAP had not given its report. “Let the recommendations of the committee come; we will also declare the SAP,” said Sharma.

Sharma also said government and cooperative factories would begin crushing between November 26 and 30.

During recent years, the government has been setting up such committees every year to declare the SAP but has never followed their direction in a true sense.

Instead, it has evolved a simple formula of giving Rs 2-5 more than Uttar Pradesh’s price.

Sources said like Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand would keep its price unchanged, a requirement of the crushing season.

Last year too, the state government had kept its price at Rs 285-295 a quintal, which was Rs 5 more than what farmers had got in Uttar Pradesh.

However, it is not yet known whether the government would make any commitment regarding bonus for farmers, as has been done in the past.

“Our sugar mills are already facing losses. We cannot increase the SAP further, which will sound the death-knell for the mills where farmers sell their produce to earn money,” said a top government official.

Experts said the government is likely to announce the SAP at Rs 285-295, considering Uttarakhand’s price is always more than that of Uttar Pradesh’s.

Resentment has been growing among farmers against non-declaration of SAP during the past one month. Farmers are demanding an SAP of Rs 300-350.