Farmers switch to other crops as cane fetches poor price

The state government announced Rs 550 as SAP (Special Advisory Price) per tonne including transport cost of Rs100 which was in addition to the central government fixed FRP (Fair and Remunerative Price) of Rs 2300. Chief Minister O Panneerselvam in a statement said that the Rs 2850 offered by Tamil Nadu was higher than the Rs 2600 offered by Karnataka and Rs 2475 offered by sugar mills in Maharashtra. 

The Cauvery protection committee general secretary Swamimalai S. Vimalnathan said, “The central government’s FRP and Tamil Nadu government’s SAP are both the same as last year. In fact, Jayalalithaa in her election manifesto had said that remunerative prices would be offered for both cane and paddy, a promise which the government has failed to keep.” 

The Tamil Nadu federation of farmers associations general secretary Arupathy Kalyanam said, “The poor price offered by the government has resulted in many farmers switching over to coconut, cholam and other horticultural crops while those with pump-sets have turned to paddy and banana. Sugar production which was 228 lakh metric tonnes in 2012-13 has now dwindled to 156 lakh MT.”

“In such a scenario, how can cane farmers be expected to continue planting cane?” asks Puliyur Nagarajan, a farmer leader.   What irks farmers is that while the 23 cooperative and 2 public sector mills had paid out both the FRP and SAP, the 18 private sugar mills have not paid SAP which amounts to nearly Rs.980 crores. “The six cane crushing units of 3 major private sugar mills are yet to pay FRP amounting to Rs.100 crores,” Vimalnathan adds. “Farmers will continue with cane production only if government reconsiders its offer and hikes it,” he added.