When it comes to announcing populist decisions, the state government doesn’t even care about the norms framed by its own agriculture experts.
A recent announcement made by Qadian SAD candidate and ex-minister Sewa Singh Sekhwan quoting CM Parkash Singh Badal regarding the state agreed price (SAP) of a particular variety of the sugarcane crop – that has been sown over 63 per cent of the total area under the crop this year — has put the Agriculture Department in a quandary.
Even as the state government had on November 24 notified that the COJ-238 sugarcane variety would be categorised as a “mid-season variety” and fixed its SAP at Rs 290 per quintal, an announcement had been recently made that the variety would be treated as an “early variety”.
Sugarcane varieties are categorised strictly on the basis of sucrose (sugar) content in them at a given point of time.
If prices are revised, sugar mills of the state will have to pay Rs 10 per quintal extra while purchasing this variety as the state has fixed Rs 300 per quintal for the early variety.
Financial Commissioner NS Kalsi said, “We will soon get new rates approved.”
A senior agriculture officer said, “The department has written to the Financial Commissioner (development) requesting the government to notify new rates, if any.”
“Sugarcane, whose sucrose content is around 17.5 per cent by November 15, can be declared as an early variety. The COJ-238 attains this level around December 15 and can’t be termed as an early variety,” said a senior scientist of the Punjab Agricultural University.