The Uttar Pradesh government said a record payment of Rs 1.71 lakh crore had so far been made to the sugarcane farmers under the Bharatiya Janata Party-led Yogi Adityanath government.
Sugarcane is the most important cash crop of UP. About 65 lakh farmers are associated with sugarcane cultivation in the state. The Yogi government has always accorded priority to ensuring payment of cane prices to the state farmers.
Over 45.74 lakh sugarcane farmers in Uttar Pradesh have been paid a record cane price payment of more than Rs 1,70,938.95 crore from 2017 to April 2022, indicating the pro-farmer stance of the government.
The payment is more than thrice the amount paid by the former Bahujan Samaj Party government and over 1.5 times higher than what Samajwadi Party government paid to farmers during the five-year tenures of Mayawati and Akhilesh Yadav.
The chief minister has instructed the officials concerned to ensure payment of sugarcane price amounting to Rs 8,000 crore within the next 100 days and the target of Rs 12,000 crore for six months.
The Sugarcane department is also making efforts to increase the productivity of sugarcane from the present 81.5 tons per hectare to 84 tons per hectare in the next five years. The chief minister has already made it clear that payment for sugarcane purchased from farmers should be made to them within 14 days without any delay.
For the crushing season 2022-23, sugarcane survey policy has been issued and instructions have also been given to conduct digital survey.
The chief minister has also issued directive for upgradation of cooperative sugar mills at Bilaspur (Rampur), Semikheda (Bareilly), Puranpur (Pilibhit), and strengthening of Nanota, Satha and Sultanpur sugar mills as promised in the election manifesto (Lok Kalyan Sankalp Patra) of the Bharatiya Janata Party.