Tamil Nadu : Sugarcane farmers want procurement price increased to ₹5,500
Sugarcane farmers in Tamil Nadu demand an increase in the procurement price from ₹3,300 to ₹5,500 per tonne, citing rising input costs and reduced cultivation area, which fell from 8 lakh acres in 2011-12 to 2.25 lakh acres in 2024-25. Farmers also urge reducing the recovery rate from 10.25% to 9.5% and criticize the ₹340/quintal Fair and Remunerative Price (FRP) for 2024-25. They call for better regulation of private mills and revenue-sharing from by-products to ensure fair compensation.
Sugarcane farmers, who are awaiting harvest this month, urged the Centre to increase procurement price of sugarcane from ₹3,300 to ₹5,500 per tonne.
Owing to practical challenges like increase in cost of manpower and fuel, the cost of sugarcane farming, like any other crop, had tremendously increased, they said.
Additionally, with introduction of new rules and closure of State-run sugarcane mills, most of the farmers had moved from sugarcane to other crops with comparatively lesser yield and profit, they said.
Reiterating the farmers’ recent request to Chairman of Commission of Agricultural Costs and Prices (CACP) Vijay Paul Sharma during a meeting in Chennai, N. Palanisamy, State president, Tamil Nadu Sugarcane Farmers Association, said they requested the Union government to bring down recovery rate from 10.25% to 9.5%.
The announcement by the Centre that the Fair and Remunerative Price (FRP) of sugarcane for 2024-2025 season would be fixed at ₹340 per quintal at the sugar recovery rate of 10.25% would only further discourage the farmers from growing the crop, he added.
Even when the State government had granted ₹645 crore as incentive to the sugarcane farmers, about one lakh acres under sugarcane cultivation had been reduced in Tamil Nadu, he said.
While sugarcane cultivation covered about eight lakh acres in 2011-2012, the area had gradually come down to 2.25 lakh acres in 2024-2025, Mr. Palanisamy said.
During the discussion with the farmers’ representatives, CACP officials stressed the autonomy of private sugarcane mills since they were the ones who bore the loss in processing the sugarcane and making it into more perishable products, he said.
“When the private sugarcane mills are not fixed a price to pay the sugarcane growers, they will additionally enjoy the profit which they get through by-products of sugarcane like molasses, filter muds and bagasse,” he noted.
The State and Central governments, in addition to increasing the procurement price, should take steps to constitute a monitoring committee to equally share the revenue accruing from sugarcane processing, Mr. Palanisamy added.
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Source : The Hindu
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