Chandigarh, May 31
The Punjab Government on Friday announced a state agreed price (SAP) for sugarcane for the 2013-14 crushing season. While the price for the advanced variety will be Rs 290 per quintal, the medium and late varieties will fetch farmers Rs 280 and Rs 275 per quintal, respectively.

Bharti Kisan Union president Balbir Singh Rajewal, who is also the member of the sub-committee appointed to recommend the sugarcane price by the Punjab Sugar Control Board, has rejected the cane price describing it as a great injustice done to farmers. Rajewal claimed the cane price announced by the state was lowest in the country.

A government spokesman said the decision regarding the sugarcane price was taken at a meeting presided by Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal in Chandigarh. The SAP for the advanced, medium and late varieties was Rs 250, Rs 240 and Rs 235 per quintal, respectively, for the crushing season 2012-13.

The crushing season, which is of six-month duration, starts in October every year.

On farmers’ demand, the Chief Minister has asked the Financial Commissioner Development to chalk out a plan to upgrade the Bhogpur Co-operative Sugar Mill by enhancing its crushing capacity. To facilitate farmers, primary agricultural societies would provide sugarcane harvesting machinery to them at nominal rates for which the government had already initiated a plan.

Rajewal said the Haryana and Uttar Pradesh governments had given cane growers a price of Rs 295 and Rs 299 per quintal, respectively, in the last crushing season. “The price offered by the Punjab Government for the next season is even lower than what Haryana and Uttar Pradesh gave to its farmers last year”, he added.

The BKU leader said the cost of cane production worked out by the Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, for the current fiscal year was Rs 290 per quintal. “The state government has announced a price of Rs 290 per quintal. It will just meet the cost of production and there will be no profit to farmers,” he said.

• BKU chief Balbir Singh Rajewal claimed the cane price announced by the state was lowest in the country
• Rajewal said the Haryana and Uttar Pradesh governments had given cane growers a price of `295 and `299 per quintal, respectively, in the last crushing season
• The price offered by the Punjab Government for the next season is even lower than what Haryana and Uttar Pradesh gave to its farmers last year, he said