Haryana govt likely to increase sugarcane SAP

KARNAL: The Haryana government is planning to increase the prices of sugarcane and a proposal in this regard has been submitted to the chief minister’s office, a senior official of the agriculture department has said.

Even as crushing operations in some sugarmills have already started, the delay in fixing the state approved price (SAP) by the government has worried the farmers as, according to them, it will delay the disbursement of payments.

Hardeep Singh, director general, agriculture, said that a proposal to increase the sugarcane SAP has already been submitted to the chief minister’s office and a final decision is pending.

Haryana Cooperation Minister Banwari Lal, who inaugurated crushing operations at Kaithal’s Cooperative Sugarmill, has assured that the government was considering a hike in the sugarcane SAP and he will take up the issue with the chief minister. Haryana is known for providing highest prices of sugarcane in the country, but after a hike of ₹ 20 per quintal by the Aam Aadmi Party-led government, now Punjab has the highest sugarcane SAP of ₹ 380 per quintal. The officials associated with a committee which fixes sugarcane SAP said that the Haryana government is planning to increase the prices more than Punjab.

As per the officials earlier had said that the state government was not in favour of increasing the Sugarcane SAP claiming that it was already providing the highest ₹ 362 per quintal for early maturing varieties of sugarcane and ₹ 355 per quintal for late maturing varieties.

“But after the Punjab government has increased the prices to ₹ 380, now the Haryana government has decided to increase the prices and fixing it to at least ₹ 1 more than Punjab,” said an official of the department.

THE DELAY IN FIXING THE SAP BY THE GOVERNMENT HAS WORRIED THE FARMERS AS, ACCORDING TO THEM, IT WILL DELAY THE DISBURSEMENT OF PAYMENTS.

Punjab govt issues notification for hike in sugarcane price CHANDIGARH: The Punjab government has issued a notification regarding the increased rate of sugarcane. In a statement issued here, agriculture minister Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal said during the calender year 2022-23, the Fair and Demonstrative Price (FRP) and the difference between State Agreed Price (SAP) value between Punjab government and private sugar mills is fixed at a 2:1 ratio.

It is worth mentioning that the price of all types of sugarcane was fixed by the central government at Rs 305 per quintal.

The Punjab government increased the price of advanced quality sugarcane at Rs 380 per quintal, medium quality Rs 370.