HARIDWAR: Disillusioned over non-payment of dues, sugarcane growers in the state are switching to cultivating other crops. This is evident as the 'command area' of production of the crop has witnessed a noticeable reduction for last three years. The highest shrinkage of the command area production has been in Haridwar district, which is known as a " sugar bowl" ofUttarakhand. 

Sugarcane is grown mostly in the plain districts of Haridwar, Dehradun, Udham Singh Nagar and Nainital. 

According to sources in the cane development and sugar industry department, the area under cane cultivation has reduced by 13,600 hectares in the command area of the state. "And the production of sugarcane in last three years, from 2012-14, has dipped by around nine lakh tonnes," said Anand Srivastava, head of the department. 

Haridwar district, which is a leading producer of sugarcane, has, reportedly experienced the biggest dip in production as well as shrinkage of area under cultivation. "From 58,400 hectare in 2012-13, culitivation has now shrunk to 44,923 hectare," said district sugarcane officer Ajay Chauhan. The production of sugarcane in 2012 was around 31 lakh tonnes which is expected to be around 24 lakh tonnes in the 2015-16 crushing session. 

Of the nine sugar mills in the state, three are privately owned and six are state-controlled units. All the private mills are in Haridwar district. The sugar mills owe a total of around Rs 356 crore to cane farmers for 2014-15 purchase. Of this amount, private mills have to clear dues to the tune of Rs 200 while state-controlled units have to clear the rest. 

"We have been staging a continuous dharna outside the SDM's office at Roorkee for the past 100 daysBut it seems that government is working hand in glove with these private sugar mills. Then why should we not drift from this crop to other crops," said Sanjay Chaudhary, a head of Bhartiya Kisan Union of Garhwal zone. 

On their part, sugar mills cited low market price of sugar and high cost of production. "Sugarcane is grown mostly in the plain districts of Haridwar, Dehradun, Udham Singh Nagar and Nainital of the state. But it is those district where land has been used for purpose of industrialization and other development in big way after the formation of Uttarakhand. Therefore, price of land in these districts has increased manifold since. So a reduction of land for any agriculture activity is inevitable," said Lokendra Lamba, general manager (cane) of Uttam Sugar Mills at Libberheri. 

"The price of sugar in the market is very low in comparison to our production cost, so from where will we get money to pay our creditors," said Lamba. 

However, farmers alleged that sugar mills, particularly private ones, are not making losses. Rakesh Agarwal, a state farmer leader, said state government had given licences to these mills for production of power and setting up breweries to supplement their income. "These mills make profit from production of power and breweries. Should this profit not be distributed among farmers first as the production sugar and other byproducts are derived from this commodity," said Agarwal. 

State government said it was very serious about develop a mechanism in the interest of cane growers vis-a-viz sugar mills. "Chief minister Harish Rawat has given instructions recently to all sugarcane departments concerned that they develop clear cut polices for early payment to farmers and promotion for cultivation of the crop," said a source based at the office of the chief minister.