Bitter Pongal looms for cane ryots

Farmers are not able to harvest crop as they are hard pressed for money.— File photo

It will not be a sweet Pongal for sugarcane growers in Puducherry this year. More than 18,000 farmers attached to the Puducherry Cooperative Sugar Mills at Lingareddypalayam are in a predicament with the government virtually dragging its feet in convening the tri-partite meeting to fix the State Advisory Price (SAP) for the crushing season 2014-15.

Sugarcane raised on 3,000 acres in Puducherry and neighbouring villages of Tamil Nadu is ready for harvest. But, the farmers could not proceed as they are hard pressed for money.

With the Puducherry government yet to settle dues either on account of cane supplied or under a loan scheme during 2013-14, the farmers are left high and dry.

“The tri-partite meeting comprising representatives of the government, mill management and the farmers is the authorised panel to fix the SAP. But, the committee is yet to convene its meeting. The delay would affect the quality of the cane and the recovery would also be poor,” S. Senthil Kumar, president of the Lingareddypalayam Sugarcane Farmers Association told

The Hindu . The mill management is yet to make payment to the tune of Rs.15 crore to farmers who had supplied cane for the previous crushing season. Many farmers were not able to avail themselves of fresh crop loans as the management had not paid interest to the banks concerned.

The management is yet to start the preparatory works for the crushing season as per schedule. Private sugar mills in Puducherry also have defied the SAP fixed by the government during the previous years and stuck to Rs.2,200 per tonne, Mr. Kumar said.

Farmers are demanding that the government fix the SAP at Rs.4,000 per tonne as suggested by the National Commission on Farmers headed by M.S. Swaminathan, which recommended a price of 50 per cent more than the cost of cultivation.

Cane growers, led by Vikravandhi MLA R. Ramamurthy of the CPI (M), have planned to picket the Assembly on Thursday to draw the attention of the government and to clear the dues to farmers.