Sugarcane arrears to farmers touched yearly Rs 19,000 crore as on June 18 of the ongoing marketing year ending September with maximum amount owed by sugar mills in UP. According to the government data mills in UP owe the maximum amount at Rs 11,082 crore, followed by Karnataka (Rs 1,704 crore) and Maharashtra (Rs 1,338 crore).
As per data, Punjab millers are yet to pay Rs 989 crore to sugarcane farmers, while those in Gujarat and Bihar have an outstanding of Rs 965 crore and Rs 923 crore, respectively.
“Payment of cane price to sugarcane growing farmers by the sugar mills is a continuous process. However, on account of surplus sugar production, during the previous sugar seasons, the sugar prices remained depressed which adversely affected the liquidity of the sugar mills resulting in accumulation of cane price arrears of the farmers,” Food Minister Ram Vilas Paswan said.