Centre’s bitter pill for sugarcane farmers

HYDERABAD: In another disappointment for farmers, the Centre has rejected a proposal by the Telangana government to increase the purchase price of sugarcane. This year, the cost of cultivation of sugarcane was fixed at Rs 3,400 per tonne, but growers will get only Rs 2,750 per tonne from sugar mills.
While farmers will find it hard to recoup the loss, experts also warned that this could lead to a huge dip in sugarcane cultivation. The cost of cultivation index is prepared by the Centre based on various calculations every year.
This setback comes close on the heels of turmeric farmers getting a raw deal from the Centre despite making a hue and cry over the minimum support price (MSP) for the crop.
In case of sugarcane unlike other crops, the Centre announces a fair and remunerative price instead of MSP. This year, the Telangana government sent a recommendation that Rs 3,500 be the remunerative price for sugarcane farmers. “But, the Centre is not willing to announce the price. Sugar mills are also not paying farmers over and above Rs 2,750 per tonne,” agriculture minister S Niranjan Reddy said. Officials said last year’s price of Rs 2,750 per tonne will continue this year also.
Farmers said the cost of transportation of the crop is around Rs 1,000 per tonne. “Labourers charge Rs 800 to Rs 1,000 per tonne to cut the crop and transport to sugar mills. How can we make up for our losses if the remunerative price is not increased,” KV Reddy, farmer from Nizamabad, sought to know.
Experts said the extent of sugarcane will also come down. In 2015-16, the extent of the crop during the kharif season was three lakh acres.
In the last four years, the acreage has come down to just one lakh acres. In the current kharif season, farmers cultivated the crop in 20,712 acres only. The average crop extent during the kharif is 90,000 acres.