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Our Bureau

Vijayawada , Nov. 16

THE Andhra Pradesh Sugarcane Growers' Association has lashed out at the Union Government for pegging the cane price at Rs 745 per tonne for the 2004-05 season, a hike of mere Rs 15 from the last season's price.

In a statement issued here on Tuesday, Mr N. Satya Venkateswara Sarma, Organising Secretary of the Association, said overall there was a 20-per cent slump in cane production due to the pricing policies of the Union Government and the States.

"In utter disregard of our representations to the Union Government and the commission on agricultural prices to peg the cane price at Rs 1,025 per tonne in view of the hike in diesel prices and other input costs, the price has been hiked by a mere Rs 15 per tonne. From 1995-96, during the past decade, the hike in per-tonne price has never been less than Rs 25. Only this season, it has been restricted to Rs 15," he said.

The statement listed out the prices for the past nine seasons as Rs 425 per tonne (1995-96), Rs 459 (1996-97), Rs 484 (1997-98), Rs 527 (98-99), Rs 561 (1999-2000), Rs 595 (2000-01), Rs 621 (2001-02), Rs 695 (2002-03) and Rs 730 (2003-04).

He said the Union Government and the State Government were hypocritically claiming that they were working hard for the welfare of the farmers, while betraying their (farmers') interests at every juncture.

Mr Sarma alleged that the Union Government was attempting to implement the Mahajan Committee recommendations through the backdoor. "We oppose the proposals to hike the base recovery rate from 8.5 per cent to 9 per cent and to take into account the average recovery rate instead of the peak recovery rate in fixing the price," he said.

He urged the Union Government to revise the rate and the State Government to help the sugarcane farmers by fixing the state advisory price as high as possible. He also sought the State Government to take steps for starting crushing in the Jampani Co-operative Sugar Factory.

More Stories on : Agricultural Policy | Andhra Pradesh | Sugar

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