UP farmers selling sugarcane in U'khand

Uttarakhand is rejoicing on the arrival of Uttar Pradesh’s sugarcane farmers, who are coming to the hill state with the hope of getting a better price for their produce.

Under a memorandum of understanding (MoU), scores of villages of Uttar Pradesh in the border areas have been allotted to Uttarakhand where sugarcane is not found in sufficient quantity.

State officials made it clear that farmers from other than the specified areas of Uttar Pradesh would not be allowed to sell their produce.

Nevertheless, the news of arrival of farmers from Uttar Pradesh has given reasons to the state government to rejoice.

“We are happy that farmers of Uttar Pradesh are selling sugarcane in Uttarakhand,” said state Sugarcane Minister Madan Kuashik, who recently announced a state advised price (SAP) of Rs 192-197 for the sugarcane with a promise of bonus also.

Already, several private mills in the state have entered into an agreement with farmers to procure sugarcane at Rs 215-225.

The higher price in Uttarakhand has enticed farmers from Uttar Pradesh where the price is much lower than the hill state.

According to a government estimate, nearly 100-200 farmers are arriving every day from Uttar Pradesh on a call given by the Bhartiya Kisan Union (BKU) chief Mahendra Singh Tikait.

Yesterday, farmers on nearly 15-20 trolleys broke the barricades at Thakurdwara area on the Uttar Pradesh-Uttarakhand border along Kumoan region to sell their sugarcane at Kashipur sugar mill.

Inquiries from various sugar mills, including those in Haridwar also revealed that farmers from Uttar Pradesh were indeed coming to sell their produce in Uttarakhand.

Uttarakhand was expecting a shortfall of sugarcane since the cane acreage had come down to 93,000 hectares from the last year’s 99,000 hectares.

The state is also expecting the sugarcane production around 51.1 million quintals this year against last year’s 63 million quintals.

Owing to this, the sugarcane officials were expecting a shortfall of the production this year that would have also led to the early closure of sugar mills.

Last year also, most of the sugar mills closed crushing season ahead of the scheduled time. “But now, we are expecting the gap to be filled by farmers from Uttar Pradesh,” said an official.