UP fixes advisory prices for sugarcane to Rs.275-290

Lucknow, Dec 7 (IANS) Uttar Pradesh's Samajwadi Party (SP) government Friday announced the state advisory price (SAP) - price at which sugar mills in the state are supposed to buy the cane from farmers - at Rs.275-290 per quintal for the current year.

A statement issued on behalf of Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav said that Rs.290 per quintal price had been fixed for early variety crop while Rs.280 per quintal was for the normal crop.

For the sub-standard crop, the farmers would be entitled to Rs.275 a quintal.

The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) government led by Mayawati had kept the SAP at Rs.240-250 per quintal.

The decision by the state government would mean that sugar mill owners will have to cough up Rs.21,000 crore as price for the sugarcane purchased through farmers - a sum Rs.3,300 crore more than the total amount paid to farmers in the last financial year.

The Akhilesh Yadav government has also increased the transport expense deduction by Rs.3 to Rs 8.75 per quintal this year.

The delay in announcing the SAP had led to vocal protests by all opposition parties - the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Congress, BSP and the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD). They accused the state government of ganging up with sugar mill owners and working against the interest of cane growers of the state.