Sugarcane growers and farmers representatives’ have expressed disappointment over the State Advised Price for sugarcane announced by the government on Thursday.
The SAP of Rs. 2,650 a tonne included the fair and remunerative price (FRP) of Rs. 2,200. Farmers representatives said there was nothing to cheer as the procurement price remained steady at Rs. 2,650 this year.
R. Raja Chidambaram, State secretary of Tamizhaga Vivasayigal Sangam, said that although the Centre had increased the FRP from Rs. 2,100 last year to Rs. 2,200 this year, the State government did not introduce any increase commensurate with it. He said that farmers would incur huge loss through this procurement price and urged the State government to increase the SAP.
G.S. Dhanapathy, Pudukottai District Chairman of Farmers’ Forum of India, said that the procurement price was not at all commensurate with the cultivation cost. With the district experiencing drought-like conditions, the announcement would affect the cane growers. He said the area under cane cultivation would diminish in course of time as farmers had been incurring huge losses for the past couple of seasons.
