Sugarcane sellers from UP give bitter taste to Haryana farmers

: Sugarcane farmers from neighbouring Uttar Pradesh selling their produce to sugar mills at a lesser price in Haryana has become a cause of concern for the harried farmers of the state, who allege that this has delayed the sowing of wheat in the sugarcane growing belts as they are unable to sell their produce and clear the fields for the next crop.

According to ground reports, farmers from Uttar Pradesh are selling sugarcane to Haryana’s sugarmills and jaggery units at around ₹ 250 to ₹ 270 per quintal in connivance with local agents.

Farmers allege that agents earn a profit of more than ₹ 100 per quintal by buying sugarcane from farmers of UP and selling it to the jaggery units and sugar mills at Haryana’s state approved price (SAP) of last year.

The 2021 SAP for sugarcane in Haryana is ₹ 362. The state government is yet to announce the SAP for this year. Farmers in the state have been demanding a hike in the SAP.

Farmers under agreement suffering the most

Farmers allege the arrival of sugarcane from UP has affected local farmers who have inked an agreement with sugar mills to supply their produce at SAP for the entire crushing season.

“Since sugar mills and jaggery makers prefer to buy sugarcane at cheaper rates from UP farmers, we are not getting indents as per our bonds. This has delayed the sowing of wheat as we could not clear our field on time,” said Madan Lal, a sugarcane farmer, of Karnal’s Dhanokheri village.

Private and cooperative sugar factories have inked an agreement with farmers for the supply of the sugarcane even before the beginning of the crushing season. The sugar mills marked their areas and number of farmers and the agreement prohibits the farmers to sell their produce to other mills or jaggery units.

Why UP farmers selling their produce in Haryana

Farmers bringing their sugarcane from UP said that sugar mills in the neighbouring state were unable to crush the entire produce and farmers of the neighboring districts prefer to sell their produce in Haryana even at lower prices.

“Due to lack of mandis, most of the farmers in western UP grow sugarcane but the state does not have enough sugarmills to buy the entire produce. Also, the SAP in UP is lower than Haryana and there is no schedule for payments, thus we prefer to sell it to mills in Haryana even ₹ 100 less than the SAP of ₹ 350 fixed in UP,” says Sonu Sharma, a farmer from Saharanpur district of UP, who has paid ₹ 6,000 to a Yamunanagar-based agent to sell his produce.

“It’s a nexus as the mill officials have deputed agents to buy sugarcane from UP farmers. Even they provide them indent on the name of local farmers and they make them the cash payment and later the agents get the payment of the SAP into their account,” said a person associated with a private sugar mill pleading anonymity.

Delay in sowing of wheat

Raj Kumar, a sugarcane grower from Ladwa in Kurukshetra district, said that farmers from UP told them that they are selling their produce at ₹ 250- ₹ 270 per quintal with the help of local agents who have inked bonds with sugar mills.

“I have to empty 14 acres but I could empty only 4 acres so far and I would be unable to sow wheat in the remaining 10 acres as the sugar mill did not gave indents to nearly 50% farmers ,” said Ajay Kumar, a farmer from Karnal’s Indri.

Sugar mills deny allegations

However, officials from sugar mills deny allegations that they are buying sugarcane from UP farmers at lower rates.

“We hear these allegations every year but without any proof. We provide indent to our farmers and we cannot stop them if they give it to anybody else,” said SC Sachdeva, chief operating officer of Saraswati Sugar Mill in Yamunanagar.

He said that the sugar mill is concerned about the farmers who have inked bonds with the mill and they were waiting for the government’s orders on the sugarcane SAP to start payment.

Karam Singh, cane advisor to Piccadily Sugar mill in Bhadson of Karnal said, “Initially, some farmers from UP had sold their produce here as local farmers were unable to run the factory due to lack of labourers. Also, some farmers had brought their produce in Haryana when crushing operations in two sugar mills in UP stopped due to technical issues, but now most of the sugarcane is coming from the local farmers”.