Lok Satta demands remunerative Price for sugarcane

The Lok Satta Party today demanded that the Government facilitate payment of a remunerative price for sugarcane to arrest the decline in the area of cultivation and ensure that sugar is available to the consumer at a reasonable price.

Talking to the media, party spokespersons V. Laxman Balaji and Mrs. Y. Ramadevi pointed out that while sugar factories in Maharashtra paid Rs.2100 per ton of cane including harvesting and transport charges last year, those in Andhra Pradesh did not pay more than Rs.1500 per ton. Cane farmers received Rs.1900 per ton in Punjab, Rs.1800 in Haryana and Rs.1600 in Uttar Pradesh.

The Lok Satta leaders said that the acreage under sugarcane has slumped from the normal 4 lakh hectares to 1.5 lakh hectares as cane farming has become unviable.

The present sugar crisis in the country which has resulted in the sugar price shooting up to Rs.30 and more a kg also underlined the need to bring down costs of production and boost productivity through better agricultural practices and mechanization.

Had the Government ensured a remunerative price to farmers, the need for import of costly sugar would not have arisen, the leaders said.