Mills reluctant to purchase entire crop
KARNAL Sugarcane growers in northern districts of Haryana are likely to face tough time in the coming crushing season, following an increase in the acreage under the cane crop.
Moreover, the condition of cooperative sugar mills of Karnal and Panipat is miserable as the government has failed to renovate these mills, and a bumper sugarcane crop in the region will put an extra burden on the other mills in the area.
The process of signing of bonds for purchase of sugarcane has started. Farmers associated with private Saraswati Sugar Mills of Yamunanagar and Piccadilly Sugar Mills of Badhshow in Karnal are complaining that these mills are not increasing their bonds with the increase in the area under cane crop.
Despite an increase of 22% in the sugarcane acreage in the state, which has gone to around 1.25 lakh hectares, the private sugarmills seem reluctant to purchase sugarcane of new farmers who did not have agreements with mills for the past three years.
The farmers allege that the mills are taking average of past three years, which is about 50% less than this year’s estimated yield.
“Following assurances from the government for crop diversification and fall in prices of basmati varieties of paddy, the farmers in this region had switched over to sugarcane crop. But now the sugar mills do not have the capacity to crush entire crop”, said Bharitya Kisan Union Haryana president Ratan Mann. “The cooperative mills of Panipat and Karnal are also under miserable conditions as the government failed to renovate them after repeated assurances,” he said.
“This year, we have 10 acres under sugarcane and the production will be around 4,500 quintals, but mill officials are saying that they will purchase sugarcane as per the three-year average, which is only 1,800 quintals. Where will I sell the remaining 2,600 quintals of sugarcane?” said Krishan Lal, a farmer of Radaur in Yamunanagar district. The worried farmers are making rounds to the mills and urging officials to increase their bonding agreement as per the acreage under the crop.
SC Sachdeva, chief operating officer of Saraswati Sugar Mills, Yamunanagar, said, “This year, we may face problems in crushing the entire produce, due to increase in the sugarcane acreage, but we will try our best to do so”.
Talking to HT, JS Brar, additional cane commissioner, Haryana agriculture department, said the entire sugarcane in the state will be crushed by the mills in Haryana and the Sugarcane Control Board will convene a meeting on September 6 to discuss the issue. “We have already told the mills that they are bound to crush the entire produce in their bonding area.”