The Andhra Pradesh Federation of Sugarcane Growers Association has in toto rejected the recommendations made by the C. Rangarajan Committee constituted by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to study the regulations in the sugar sector.
The Federation secretary N.S.V. Sharma in a statement said that cane growers in the State held a roundtable conference in Hyderabad and discussed the committee report threadbare. The roundtable opined that while the Rangarajan Committee recommended the scrapping of the State Advisor Price (SAP) the round table in a resolution demanded that payment of SAP be revived in Andhra Pradesh like in other States and SAP given legal status with an enactment of a special legislation for it.
The cane growers demanded that the expenditure incurred for harvesting and transportation of sugarcane be met by the factories. The price of sugarcane should be announced even before the sowing of crop.
The cane farmers demanded the Central Government to announce minimum support price of Rs 3,500 per acre as the expenditure had crossed Rs.1.25 lakh and the yield was stuck at 30 tonnes (per acre).
Payment to cane farmers using the Bhargava Formula should be revived. Basic amenities should be provided to cane farmers from the Sugar Development Fund, was another demand the cane growers made.
