Vibha Sharma
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, 26 August
The United Kisan Morcha, which on Thursday wrapped up a nine-month-long protest at Delhi’s borders, termed the Rs 5 FRP hike for sugarcane (announced by the Center yesterday) as an “insult” to farmers.
The farmers’ unions, which are organizing an all-India convention focusing on the completion of nine months as well as intensifying their agitation against the three central laws and other agrarian issues, argued that unless one The government doesn’t actually lower the price from one season to another, the next year the price may only be “highest”.
“The hike of Rs 5 per quintal is clearly an insult to the sugarcane farmers of the country,” the SKM leaders said.
“On one hand, the CACP says that sugarcane SAP should not be increased differently and on the other hand the FRP has not been properly fixed by the Narendra Modi government. After the recent historic struggle by the farmers of Punjab, who achieved a hike of Rs 50 per quintal, it is once again clear that the cost of production figures are being suppressed, and the hard work of the farmers is being exploited.
All eyes are now on the Yogi Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh, where farmers’ demand for raising the State Advisory Price (SAP) has not been met for the past three years. Yesterday, soon after the cabinet approved the FRP, Adityanath announced his government’s decision to increase the SAP ahead of the upcoming crushing season.
Making the announcement specifically, Union Minister Piyush Goyal called the FRP of Rs 290 per quintal the “highest ever”.
Goyal said that the production cost of sugarcane for sugar season 2021-22 is Rs 155 per quintal, so the FRP of Rs 290 per quintal at 10% recovery rate is 87.1% more than the cost of production, thereby giving returns to the farmers. over 50% of their cost.
Meanwhile, BKU leader Rakesh Tikait has also asked the Center to “disclose the formula”, on the basis of which it calculated the increase in FRP by Rs 5 per quintal.
Tikait said that while the Center is “patting its back by calling the Rs 5 hike in FRP a historic decision, the states in North India are paying better SAP”. So the question is how this price (FRP of Rs 290 per quintal) will be beneficial for the sugarcane farmer, the Center should explain the formula.
Earlier this week, the Punjab government had announced SAP of Rs 360 per quintal.
Sugarcane farmers in poll-bound Uttar Pradesh are demanding more SAP than this. Their leaders say that as their agitation is gaining momentum and elections are approaching, “the nervousness of the BJP government is visible”. “The promise of the UP CM to clear the arrears before the crushing season from 2010 reflects this nervousness,” he says.
Currently, UP offers Rs 325 and Rs 315 for early and late varieties respectively.