The Uttar Pradesh government has set a new record in the state by paying arrears to sugarcane farmers even during the tenure of the Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party governments.
According to official data, over 97 per cent or Rs 34,847 crore of dues have been paid to the farmers so far for the last crushing season 2019-20. The cumulative payment during the Yogi Adityanath government so far has been Rs 1.22 lakh crore from March 19, 2017 till date. The government has also made a record in the yield per hectare of sugarcane and also cane crushing by the sugar mills during the pandemic. The Yogi government has set a new record for the highest-ever payment to sugarcane farmers, including the dues of the previous government. Along with the payment, the government has placed maximum emphasis on modernisation of old mills and the establishment of new ones. In this sequence, the capacity of about two dozen mills was increased.
New sugar mills were set up in Pipraich in Gorakhpur, Mundera in Basti and Ramala in Baghpat district. The opening of new mills and modernisation of old mills has benefitted the sugarcane farmers while as many as 29 sugar mills were closed from 2007 to 2017 during the SP and BSP regimes.
The state government has made arrangements for issuing online licences to Khandsari units within 100 hours for crushing sugarcane at local level. So far, licences have been issued to more than 105 units, which have increased the crushing capacity to 27,850 TDS.
As much as 51 per cent of the total area under cultivation in UP is dedicated to sugarcane farming and the state contributes 38 per cent of the sugar production in the country. Uttar Pradesh is the largest producer of sugarcane in India. About 119 of the total 520 sugar mills in the country are in UP. The sugar industry in UP has also set a record by achieving 11.46 per cent sugar recovery.
The state government, under its ongoing campaign to weed out the ‘sugarcane mafia’, has uncovered about 2 lakh fake bonds of almost 1.5 million tonnes (MT) of sugarcane. The sugarcane mafia operated by registering as bona fide farmers with sugarcane cooperative societies. In order to make the registration process completely transparent, the ‘sugarcane app’ was also launched by the government.