The sugar industry in the country seems to be poised for a bitter showdown this year, as the imbroglio involving cane growers, mill owners and the government has reached to an absolute dead end, especially with the Centre playing the fair and remunerative price (FRP) card just when crushing operations are set to begin. With cane growers, the major stakeholder, quite resolute in their demand of selling cane at not less than Rs 280 per quintal and millers pitching for the FRP, a quick and easy solution to this crisis appears illusive.
Millers, however, are optimistic that once the initial dust of rebellion dies down among the newly united farmers? lobby, farmers will be forced to sell their produce as cane cannot be stored.
However, in Uttar Pradesh, which is the largest sugarcane producing state, the more than 4 lakh aggrieved cane growers seem to be in a belligerent mood, with many attempting suicides and also setting fire to their standing crops in Baghpat, Bijnore, Bulandshahr and Meerut.
Not only this, the bitterly divided farmers? lobbies of Mahendra Singh Tikait?s Bharaiya Kisan Union, Baba Harikrishan Malik?s Kisan Mazdoor Sangathan and VM Singh?s Rashtriya Kisan Mazdoor Sangathan have struck a common chord and pledged to launch a planned movement wherein farmers will sell their produce at a price fixed by them. ?It is our endeavour to bring farmers on a level playing field. In an open economy, we want the market forces to dictate the prices and don?t want people sitting in plush offices to dictate the price,? said VM Singh, convenor of the Rashtriya Kisan Mazdoor Sangathan.
Farmers have decided to sever the umbilical cord with the state government and resign from the cane development societies, which bind them to sell cane as per the government?s orders.
In fact, not only farmers, even the millers are in favour of the state and Central governments moving out of the mechanism of price fixing. ?What is the role of the government in this? Why can?t the buyer and the seller sit across and come to an agreed price, like in other sectors? Let the demand and supply theory take over. Obviously, if there is a dearth of cane, millers have no choice but to pay higher prices to procure cane so as to run their mills,? said a senior official of a leading sugar mill in the state, requesting anonymity.
In this already muddled scenario, the Centre to suddenly played the FRP card and made things worse. ?The cost of cane production this year has gone up drastically due to absence of monsoon. Farmers had to spend thousands of rupees per acre on one operation of irrigation. Due to the reduction of average yield on account of drought conditions, too, the cost of production has gone up between Rs 250?300 per quintal. All that farmers want is a reasonable return,? said Singh, adding that the agitation would start from November 1.
This will further delay the starting of crushing operation, which is already running behind schedule due to drought and delayed rains. Most mills, which were hoping to start crushing from November 1, will now adopt a wait and watch policy and hope to start crushing after middle of November.
?It is a do-or-die situation. For the sugar industry to survive, the issue should be sorted out without delay. For if it does not, the already shrinking cane area will see a drastic cut next year, leaving mills with no cane to crush. It will also have a steep impact on the country’s sugar production,? said a state government official, requesting anonymity.