Cane politics: Farmers, SKM call FRP hike of Rs 5 announced by Centre ‘insulting’
Vibha Sharma
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, August 26
The Samyukt Kisan Morcha, which on Thursday completed nine months of protests at Delhi borders, has called the FRP hike of Rs 5 for sugarcane (announced by Centre yesterday) as an “insult” to farmers.
Farmers unions, who are holding an all-India convention focused on expansion as well as intensification of their agitation against the three central laws and other agrarian issues to mark the completion of nine months, argued that unless any government actually reduces the price from one season to the other, the price next year can only be “highest ever”.
“The Rs 5 a quintal hike is clearly an insult to sugarcane farmers of the country,” SKM leaders said
“On the one hand, the CACP says the SAP of sugarcane should not be hiked in a differential manner and on the other hand the FRP is not fixed in a fair manner by Narendra Modi Government. After the recent historic struggle of farmers of Punjab who secured a Rs-50 hike per quintal of sugarcane, it is clear once again that cost of production figures are being suppressed, and farmers’ hard toil is being exploited,” they added.
All eyes are now on the Yogi Adityanath government in poll-bound Uttar Pradesh where the farmers’ demand for an increased state advisory price (SAP) has remained unmet for past three years. Yesterday, soon after the Cabinet approved the FRP, Adityanath announced his government’s decision to raise SAP ahead of the ensuing crushing season.
Notably making the announcement, union minister Piyush Goyal called the FRP of Rs 290 a quintal the “highest ever”.
Goyal said the cost of production of sugarcane for the sugar season 2021-22 is Rs 155 per quintal, therefore FRP of Rs 290 per quintal at a recovery rate of 10% is higher by 87.1% over production cost, thereby giving the farmers a return of much more than 50% over their cost.
Meanwhile, BKU leader Rakesh Tikait has also asked the centre to “reveal the formula” on the basis of which it calculated the increase of Rs 5 a quintal in the FRP.
Tikait said that while the Centre is “patting its back by calling the Rs 5 hike in FRP a historic decision, states in north India are paying a much better SAP”. “Therefore the question is how will this price (the FRP of Rs 290 a quintal) be beneficial to sugarcane farmer, the centre should explain the formula,” he said
Earlier this week, the Punjab government announced SAP of Rs 360 per quintal.
Sugarcane farmers in poll-bound Uttar Pradesh are demanding a much higher SAP than that. Their leaders say that with their movement gaining momentum and elections approaching, the “nervousness of the BJP government is visible”. “UP CM’s promise of completing pending payments from 2010 before the crushing season is manifestation of this nervousness,” they add.
Currently, UP offers Rs 325 and Rs 315 for early and late varieties, respectively.
