LUCKNOW: As a first sign of reconciliation between the agitating farmers and sugar industry in Uttar Pradesh, a section of sugarcane farmers have agreed to sell their produce to the millers at the agreed rate of 180-185 per quintal, the price announced by UP sugar Millers Association (UPSMA) on Saturday, which also includes an incentive of Rs.15 over and above the state advised price (SAP).
Speaking to FE, VM Singh of Rashtriya Kisan Mazdoor Sangathan said while the farmers demand still remains Rs 280/- quintal, the reason for his giving in is the acute problems that the small and marginal farmers are facing.
- The sugarcane farmers desperate to sell and wont be able to hold on for too long
- The farmers need to vacate the fields for wheat sowing soon or else the yield of wheat will be low.
- The kolhus have started taking advantage and are paying Rs.125-140/-quintal.
The case farmers are desperate. They will not be able to hold on for too long. The farmers need to vacate the fields for wheat sowing immediately, or else the yield of wheat will be very low. Also, the Kolhus, who were till now paying Rs.200-215/quintal, have started taking advantage of the situation and are paying Rs.125-140/quintal. There is no way out for the farmer but to sell his cane at whatever price the millers are giving, he said.
However, Singh asserts that the fight for better sugarcane pricing is still on and that the Form C agreement will bear this out.
In the Form C, the sugar societies, which represent the farmers, will on the one hand write that though their demand is Rs 280/-quitntal, they are agreeable to the Rs 180-185/-quintal that the mills are giving and the millers, on the other hand, will also have to give it in writing that they are not able to give anything beyond this, he states, adding that if any mill in the state pays a higher price that what it has committed on the Form C during the entire crushing season, that price will have to be paid by all the other mills for all the cane that has been purchased from the beginning of the season.
This would call for an immense amount of discipline among the millers, who very often resort to poaching on the cane areas of rival sugar mills. However, despite these riders, the industry sees this as a victory in the battle of nerves that has delayed crushing by almost a fortnight.
With this decision, the factories are likely to start crushing within a day or two. Though some other sections of farmers are still agitating on this issue and have decided to take the battle to the Parliament, the fact that time is running out will certainly weigh on them, forcing them to withdraw their agitation.
Though this decision may not be liked by the farmers, who have incurred huge losses this year due to the increase of input costs, they have very little choice. The fact is that unlike other crops, they cannot store cane. But this decisions is likely to have a ripple effect next year, when farmers will move away from cane to other crops due to this attitude of the industry, said Joginder Singh, a cane farmer from Lakhimpur Kheri.
-Deepa Jainani
THE FINANCIAL EXPRESS
18 Nov. 2009
