Crushing season tastes bitter for UP sugarcane growers

For Uttar Pradesh sugarcane growers, their produce is no longer sweet. Almost three months into the sugarcane crushing cycle, the Uttar Pradesh government has not announced the State Advised Price (SAP) for the crop for the ongoing 2022-23 crushing season. There are no immediate plans either, it seems.

 As the Yogi Adityanath government has not announced any hike in cane SAP, the Rashtiya Lok Dal (RLD), which has a good clout among Western UP sugarcane farmers, is angry. Officials say the government has started paying cane farmers according to the SAP fixed for the previous crushing season, but farmers complain that out of six crushing seasons, there was no hike in SAP on four occasions during the current BJP regime.

 The first hike of Rs 10 a quintal was in 2017 when the Adityanath government assumed power. The second hike of Rs 25 was announced just before the last assembly elections in the state. Thus, the total increase was just Rs 35, they rued. Since sugarcane becomes a key political issue in western Uttar Pradesh during any election, RLD chief Chaudhary Jayant Singh and Bharatiya Kisan Union national spokesperson Rakesh Tikait have grabbed the issue and fired salvos at the chief minister.

 "The UP govt have given a jolt to the farmers," tweeted Singh, while the BKU termed it as a deceit. They pointed out that the SAP in Uttar Pradesh was lower compared to other states. Sources in the government said any hike in the SAP for sugarcane was unlikely in the current crushing season.

A Sugar Industry and Cane Development department official said that crushing has begun in the mills and payments are being made according to the SAP decided for the 2021-22 season. "If the government still decides to increase the SAP over the next few days, it will be announced and farmers will also be paid arrears for the revised rates,” he said.

 The last time the Uttar Pradesh government announced a hike in the SAP for sugarcane was in September, 2021 over a month before the crushing season started and ahead of the Uttar Assembly elections that were held in March 2022.

 Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath had then announced an increase of Rs 25 per quintal in the SAP. After the hike, the revised SAP was Rs 350 per quintal for the early variety of sugarcane, Rs 340 per quintal for the general variety and Rs 335 per quintal rejected variety.

 In December 2022, a delegation of Bharatiya Kisan Union (Apolitical), a farmers’ organisation, had met Adityanath at his official residence in Lucknow and urged him to announce the SAP for sugarcane with a hike of Rs 50 per quintal vis-a-vis the SAP of the previous season.

 BKU (A) state president Hari Nam Singh Verma said the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in its manifesto had promised to increase the SAP for sugarcane. “But, the SAP has not been announced yet and the payment to farmers is being made according to the previous crushing season’s rates. The BKU (A) will soon launch an agitation demanding that the BJP government fulfill the promises it made in its manifesto,” he added.

 The Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD), which counts west UP’s sugarcane farmers among its support base, had my launched a “kisan sandesh abhiyan” to send letters signed by sugarcane farmers to the chief minister demanding the announcement of the SAP. According to the data shared by the Sugar Industry and Cane Development department, during the 2021-22 season, over 1,016 lakh tonnes of sugarcane was crushed against a payment of Rs 3,3421 crore.

 While the AAP-ruled Punjab recently announced the SAP as ₹380 for a quintal of sugarcane. BJP ruled Haryana also announced the SAP as ₹372 for a quintal but  Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand are yet to announce the SAP for this season. U.P’s SAP for 2021-22 is ₹350 for the best variety and ₹340 for common varieties of sugarcane. When the BJP came to power in 2017, the SAP was ₹315 for a quintal. Last season, the SAP was announced in September. SAP is announced every year during the harvest or before the beginning of harvest.

 Rural Voice believes a hike is expected only in the 2023-24 crushing season that is ahead of the 2024 Parliamentary elections. Call it pure votebank politics!