The new sugarcane crushing season (October 1, 2023-September 30, 2024) has started, but the farmers of Uttar Pradesh have still not yet been fully paid the sugarcane dues of the previous crushing season (2022-23).
Sugarcane farmers of the state owe more than Rs 4,000 crore to more than a dozen sugar mills, some of which have made payment only till December, 2022. Not only this, the state government has also not declared the State Advisory Price (SAP) of sugarcane for the current season, though it should have been announced before the start of the season.
Last season, SAP for early variety of sugarcane was Rs 350 per quintal.
According to the latest data of Uttar Pradesh Sugarcane Development Department, Rs 33,826.53 crore has been paid to sugarcane farmers till September 29, 2023, which is 88.90 per cent of the total payment. If seen from this perspective, the total liability of sugarcane farmers on the sugar mills of UP is approximately Rs 38,050 crore, while the outstanding amount is Rs 4,223 crore. There are more than a dozen mills like Shamli, Woon (Shamli), Malakpur (Baghpat), Simbhawali and Modi Sugar Mills on which farmers have outstanding dues.
Shamli and Woon sugar mills have paid farmers only for two months of the last crushing season. Crushing started in these mills from November 2022 and they have paid for sugarcane only till December 2022, whereas crushing continued in these mills till May 2023. In this regard, farmers have outstanding dues of 5 months. As a rule, payment should be made within 14 days of farmers delivering sugarcane to the mills. The payment made thereafter is considered as outstanding payment on which the mills have to pay interest.
Bhopal Singh, a sugarcane farmer from Bhainswal village of Shamli district, sells sugarcane to Shamli Sugar Mill. He is a small farmer. Bhopal Singh said that Shamli Mill has made the payment only till December 2022, whereas now the new crushing season has started. Due to non-payment for such a long time, they are facing a lot of financial problems.
Due to non-payment of dues by sugar mills, Bhopal Singh has not been able to repay the loan for the previous crop, while the current crop is also ready to be harvested. Bhopal Singh says that farming is his lone source of income. Due to sugarcane arrears, it is becoming difficult for them to bear the burden of their children's education, medicines and all other expenses. The plight of thousands of farmers in Shamli district is similar.
According to government data, in the crushing season 2022-23, 1098.82 lakh tonnes of sugarcane was crushed in Uttar Pradesh and 104.82 lakh tonnes of sugar was produced.
In the crushing season 2021-22, 1016.26 lakh tonnes of sugarcane was crushed by the mills of UP and 101.98 lakh tonnes of sugar was produced. Rs 35,158.93 crore was paid to farmers in 2021-22, which was 99.88 per cent of the total payment.