Maharashtra Sugar Commissioner Shekhar Gaikwad has introduced two crucial changes during the crushing season of 2019-20, and both of them are expected to change the way the industry functions. While millers have expressed strong reservations about the changes, some of them feel the move will help streamline the payment system for farmers.

 

The Indian Express looks at the changes and the impact they are likely to have.

 

The changes 

 

* Farmers can transport their own cane

 

* Mills have to make harvesting and transportation costs public

 

Starting this season, officers of the Sugar Commissionerate will publish Harvesting and Transportation (HnT) charges of individual mills in an area. The list will have the Fair and Remunerative Price (FRP) net after deducting the HnT of individual mills, which is the real cane payment received by farmers after selling their produce to those mills. Farmers will also be allowed to harvest and transport their own cane. Seemingly simple, these changes have serious implications for both cane growers and millers.

 

Unlike their counterparts in Uttar Pradesh, mills in Maharashtra arrange for harvesting and transportation of cane from the farmers’ fields till the mill gate. Based on the date of planting of cane, mills draw up their harvesting calender to ensure the availability of cane across the season to maximise their operations. Once the season starts, the harvesting staff adheres to the calendar and transports harvested cane to the mills.