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Sugarcane farmers can expect only 2.5 per cent increase in their selling price next year as the Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices (CACP) has raised the recovery rate by 0.25 per cent on which the new price is to be calculated. If the government accepts the recommendation, the fair and remunerative price (FRP) of sugarcane will be ₹305/quintal at a 10.25 per cent recovery rate for 2022-23 season (October-September).
The FRP is ₹290/quintal for current sugar season at 10 per cent recovery rate. The more the recovery, higher is cane price accordingly. Recovery rate is the quantum of sugar produced out of sugarcane that depends on the juice content.
Though CACP said that the recommended FRP is 88 per cent more than A2+FL cost of production and 30 per cent above C2 cost estimated for 2022-23, it is in fact a mere 2.5 per cent increase if the recovery rate is kept at 10 per cent.
“Considering the current global situation when India is able to export record quantity without any subsidy, the CACP’s recommendation on the revenue sharing formula should be accepted this year to put an end to the problem of recurring cane price arrears,” an industry official said.
With continuing competition among States like Punjab and Haryana in fixing the State Advised Price (SAP), which is also compulsory for mills to pay as per a court order, the Centre should take all States into confidence to end the system of separate price for each State on the principle of one nation one rate similar to MSP, said the industry official.
Like the bonus declared by States for wheat and paddy abolished in 2014, the Centre should make cane price uniform so that mills in one State do not face disadvantage due to payment of higher rates, compared to another state, he added.
However, farmer leader and former MP Raju Shetti said: “It is highly unfair and CACP has done injustice to cane farmers. Only because of higher prices of fertilisers, pesticides, and diesel, a sugarcane farmer’s cost of production has gone up by ₹20/quintal if he is harvesting 7 tonne from one acre. The government should not accept the recommendation and ask CACP to revise it.”
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