With this, the SAP of sugarcane has gone up from ₹310 to ₹325 for early variety, ₹300 to ₹315 for mid-variety and ₹295 to ₹310 per quintal for late maturing variety

Chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Thursday approved the hike of ₹15 per quintal in the state agreed price (SAP) of all sugarcane varieties for the 2021-22 crushing season. 

With this, the SAP of sugarcane has gone up from ₹310 to ₹325 for early variety, ₹300 to ₹315 for mid-variety and ₹295 to ₹310 per quintal for late maturing variety, according to an official release. 

Approximately, 1.10 lakh hectares is under sugarcane production in the state and about 660 lakh quintals of cane would be crushed by the sugar mills. 

With the increase in sugarcane rate, additional benefit to the tune of ₹230 crore would accrue to the farmers of the state. On the demand of the cane growers, sugarcane variety Co-0238 would also be purchased at 325 per quintal, the release said. 

Chairing a meeting of the Sugarcane Control Board through video conferencing, the CM also constituted a Cane Development Group headed by cooperation minister Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa, besides other members, including Rana Sugars CMD Rana Gurjit Singh, Punjab State Farmers’ Commission chairman Ajay Vir Jakhar, cane commissioner Gurvinder Singh and PAU Sugar Research Centre, Kapurthala, director Dr Gulzar Singh. 

The group has been mandated to find ways and means to enhance the production of sugarcane and promotion of advanced cultivation technologies so as to ensure remarkable improvement in sugar recovery. 

The CM also asked the agriculture department to work closely with farmers for brining far more area under sugarcane so as to improve the viability of sugar mills, besides giving push to state government’s ambitious programme of crop diversification. 

Cooperation minister Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa emphasised the need to modernise cooperative sugar mills so that the cost of production could be reduced.