Indian sugar mills association

Mayawati woos farmers ahead of

Date:	09 Nov 2011

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Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati on Tuesday announced a hike ranging from Rs. 35 to Rs. 40 per quintal in the State Advised Price (SAP) of the three main varieties of sugarcane for the 2011-12 crushing season and immediately set upon the task of scoring brownie points over her political rivals, especially the Samajwadi Party. State Assembly elections are likely to be held in February next year and sugarcane politics has played a prominent role in deciding the outcome of the polls, particularly in the sugarcane-rich region of western UP.

Ms. Mayawati said that from 2007 to 2011 there has been a two-fold increase in the sugarcane price.

The procurement of price of cane was approved at a Cabinet meeting presided over by Ms. Mayawati. She said that the decision would benefit about 40 lakh cane farmers. But, even as the cane price hike was likely to benefit the growers, the sugar mill owners are not prepared to pay the enhanced price. A representative of the Indian Sugar Mills Association (ISMA) told The Hindu that the decision was being reviewed and a final call would be taken later.

While the new SAP for early maturing variety has been fixed at Rs. 250 per quintal, the common variety of cane has been fixed at Rs.240 per quintal. The procurement price for the rejected variety will be Rs.235 per quintal. In the 2010-11 crushing season, the SAP for the three varieties was Rs.210 per quintal, Rs.205 per quintal and Rs. 200 per quintal respectively.

Ms. Mayawati said the SAP announced by her government was more than the prevailing price in Punjab which was Rs.220 for the rejected variety, Rs.225 for the common variety and Rs.230 for the early maturing variety. She told journalists that for the last crushing season, an increase of Rs.40 on the per quintal price of cane had been announced by the Bahujan Samaj Party Government.

Ms. Mayawati said when the Samajwadi Party was in power in 2007, the SAP for the common variety was Rs.125 per quintal, whereas in 2010-11 the SAP for the same variety was Rs.205. “Moreover, cane price arrears worth Rs.2,400 crore, which were a legacy of the previous regime, have been cleared by the BSP government,” she stated. In fact, the FRP (fair and remunerative price) of Rs.145 per quintal announced by the Congress-led UPA Government was described as “insufficient” by her. “It reflected the anti-farmers` sentiment of the Central Government,” the Chief Minister declared.

Claiming that the hefty hike underlined the pro-farmers` approach of the BSP government, she sought to equate the latest move with another `farmers-friendly` decision of her regime —the New Land Acquisition Policy, 2011, announced some months back.

However, the decision has not been welcomed by the sugar mill owners. “Unless the sugar prices move up by Rs.3 to Rs.4 per quintal, it would create a difficult financial situation for the mill owners,” said a spokesperson of the UP branch of ISMA. The current sugar prices were between Rs.2,800 and Rs.2,900 per quintal, he said.

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