Farmers and sugar industry, for different reasons, are anxiously waiting for the announcement of the State Advised Price (SAP) of sugarcane for the 2023-24 cane crushing season, which commenced over two months ago.
The Uttar Pradesh government had last hiked the SAP of sugarcane in 2021-22 ahead of the state assembly elections, fixing it at Rs 340 per quintal for general variety and Rs 350 per quintal for early variety of sugarcane.
Farmers are waiting for the sugarcane SAP as they expect a hefty hike in the election year, while the sugar industry is concerned over the delay in announcement of price due to diversion of sugarcane to jaggery and khandsari industry. The jaggery industry pays upfront cash payment for cane at Rs 360-400 per quintal as compared to Rs 340-350 per quintal being paid by mills.
“We were expecting that the SAP will be announced at the start of the crushing season in October. But it is now January and we still do not know what price farmers will get from mills for their crop,” said VM Singh, convener of Rashtriya Kisan Mazdoor Sangathan.
Since the Yogi Adityanath-led Bharatiya Janata Party government took office, the cane price in Uttar Pradesh has gone up by only Rs 35 per quintal, which is much lower than what Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party had increased during their tenures.
Akhilesh Yadav-led Samajwadi Party government had raised the SAP from Rs 240-250 per quintal in 2011-12 to Rs 305-315 per quintal in 2016-17) while Mayawati had increased it from Rs 125-130 per quintal in 2006-07 to Rs 240-250/quintal in 2011-12, a hike of Rs 115-120 per quintal.
“Today farmers are paying Rs 45-50 per quintal only as labour charges for harvesting, compared to Rs 30-35 two years ago. The cost of fertilisers, pesticides and other inputs has also shot up, even as per-acre cane yields have fallen because of the dominant Co-0238 variety becoming susceptible to red rot fungal disease,” VM Singh said.
Sources in the sugar industry said, “The jaggery and khandsari units are paying more, that too immediately in cash while our payment cycle is 14 days after cane purchase. The government monitors our input (cane) and output (sugar) prices, unlike the unregulated gur and khandsari makers who operate in a completely free market.”
Meanwhile, the National Federation of Cooperative Sugar Factories Ltd has estimated India’s sugar output during 2023-24 (till December 31) at 112.10 lakh metric tons, 7.6 per cent lower than the 121.35 lakh MT for the same period of the last season. The production in Uttar Pradesh has gone up to 34.65 lakh MT from 30.8 lakh MT, however, production in Maharashtra and Karnataka is expected to fall.
For the whole 2023-24 season (October-September), the country’s sugar production is projected to drop to 305.5 lakh MT from 330.9 lakh MT in 2023-23). Only Uttar Pradesh is expected to register an increase - from 104.8 lakh MT to 115 lakh MT in 2023-24.
