Uttar Pradesh cane SAP unchanged at ₹370/quintal for 2024-25 season

Uttar Pradesh (UP) has kept the state advised price (SAP) of sugarcane for the 2024-25 season unchanged at ₹370 per quintal for early varieties, sources said on Tuesday. For the general varieties of cane, the SAP has also been kept unchanged at ₹360 per quintal. Sugar season runs from October to September.

 

SAP is the rate at which sugar mills in the state have to mandatorily buy cane from farmers. Apart from UP, Punjab, Haryana, and Uttarakhand too have their respective SAPs.

 

UP is India’s largest sugarcane-producing state — followed by Maharashtra and Karnataka — and is home to the largest number of private sugar mills in the country.

 

Of the total 120 sugar mills in UP, the private sector leads with 93 plants, followed by the cooperative sector with 24, and UP State Sugar Corporation (UPSSC) with 3 units.

 

Nearly 5 million farm households are directly associated with sugarcane farming in UP and cane by-products, including sugar, ethanol, molasses, etc., generate an annual economy of over ₹50,000 crore in the state.

 

Meanwhile, farmers’ groups have expressed dismay over the status quo on sugarcane SAP in UP as their cost of production has risen manifold since last year. They were demanding an SAP of at least ₹400 per quintal.

 

“The farmer will now be in debt, will be financially troubled, and it will have an adverse effect on the rural economy. The government did wrong,” said Manish Bharti, national spokesperson for Jai Kisan Andolan.

 

A few days ago, private sugar mills had approached the UP government to not implement any further hike in SAP for the 2024-25 season as falling recovery rates have significantly pushed up their production costs.

 

Sources said the sugar mills said in the 2024-25 season, their recovery has dropped by a steep 0.3-1.0 per cent, which has pushed up their production cost by an average ₹140 per quintal (assuming average recovery drop to be 0.4 per cent).

 

The millers also said that while on the one hand production costs have risen, on the other there has not been any significant rise in sugar prices till the end of December 2024 as compared to the same period last year.

 

Recovery rate is the quantum of sugar derived after processing a definite weight of sugarcane.

 

Farmers meet CACP

 

Farmers groups that met the Commission for Agriculture Costs and Prices (CACP) on Tuesday to discuss minimum support price (MSP)-related issues, demanded legally guranteed MSP, assured procurement of all kharif crops and 100 per cent more price over the comprehensive production costs. The groups, which was led by Bharatiya Kisan Union (Apolitical) and All India Kisan Sabha, said that Dr Swaminathan had given his report in 2005 wherein he suggested an MSP which is 50 per cent more than production costs, but now the time has come to revisit the same.

 

Naksha pilot launched

 

Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Tuesday launched a pilot project on knowledge-based land survey of urban habitations called the National geospatial knowledge-based land survey of urban habitations, or Naksha. The pilot will be conducted in 152 urban local bodies spread across 26 states and three Union Territories across India. Chouhan said the survey will be done through drones in urban areas and a map will be made and given to the land owner. “Many problems arise due to the lack of a map. Now citizens will have a systematic record of their land,” Chouhan said.