The Uttar Pradesh (UP) government on Tuesday asked the sugar industry to safeguard the interests of farmers, in the backdrop of delay in start of the cane crushing season.

Chief Secretary Jawed Usmani was holding a meeting with stakeholders in the sector before recommending a price for the 2013-14 crushing season to the Cabinet for approval.

He asked private mills to ensure crushing operations by November 25, as the government and cooperative units would also start between November 15 and 22.

Cane has been sown on 2.4 million hectares and supports 4.5 million farmers.

The farmers’ representatives put up their demand for a price of Rs 350 a quintal, while the mills maintained their paying capacity in the prevailing circumstances was not beyond Rs 225 a quintal.

On Monday, Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav had directed private mills to start from November 20 and issued a warning to defaulters.

While mills in Saharanpur, Meerut and Moradabad divisions have to start between November 20 and 25, the rest of the units would start by November 30.

This direction had come even as private mills had decided not to start crushing unless the state announced its sugarcane price.

The private mills owe arrears of about Rs 2,400 crore to farmers for 2012-13. Claiming losses over the last few years, sugar industry now wants linking cane price with sugar prices.

UP accounts for 30 per cent of India’s annual sugar output and supports over four million cultivators’ families. In fact, sugar represents the largest organised sector in UP and accounts for Rs 30,000-crore economy.