Haryana Government on Thursday announced to increase the price of sugarcane to Rs 362 per quintal with an increase of Rs 12 per quintal.
With this, the sugarcane price in Haryana has now become the highest in the country.
Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare Minister, JP Dalal while talking to the mediapersons after the meeting of Sugarcane Control Board said that the price of sugarcane has been increased after the approval of Chief Minister Manohar Lal to protect the interests of sugarcane farmers in the state.
The situation of sugarcane
farmers, sugarcane mills, sugar prices and other matters were discussed in the meeting.
Dalal said that as per the decision taken by the State Government, Rs 362 per quintal will be provided for early maturing varieties of sugarcane as compared to previous Rs 350 while Rs 355 per quintal will be provided for late maturing varieties of sugarcane which was Rs 340 per quintal earlier.
Referring to Punjab, he said that the price of sugarcane in Punjab was Rs 310 for the last 4 years which has now been increased by Rs 50 due to the upcoming assembly elections in the state.
He said that no neighboring state has more farmer friendly policies than Haryana. Policy decisions are taken in the interest of farmers whether it is about micro irrigation and Fasal Bima Yojana. Ganaur market being set up in Haryana is the biggest market in entire Asia. Similarly, apple market will also be set up in Pinjore, flower market in Gurugram and modern spice market in Sonepat, he added.
The Minister said that every year, the State Government provides a subsidy of Rs 200 crore to the farmers for purchasing agricultural equipments.
He further said that due to poor quality of sugarcane last year, the recovery of all private and cooperative sugar mills has been depreciated by 0.34. This time the recovery has decreased from 10.58 to 10.24. It has been observed that the variety of sugarcane like 0238 being sown these days is having diseases. Therefore, agricultural scientists have developed 15023 new variety of sugarcane after discussing with the scientists of the Union and Haryana Agricultural University, he said.
Dalal said that the sugar recovery from the sugarcane currently being sown is generally around 10.50 per cent, while the expected recovery of newly developed variety i.e. 15023 is around 14 per cent.