Lucknow

In the first four months of the current crushing season, the arrears of farmers on sugar mills in Uttar Pradesh have reached Rs 6,718.98 crore. All this is despite the state government’s provision for the payments within 14 days. Besides, Rs 628.10 crore of the last crushing season have not yet been paid. 

According to a report from the Uttar Pradesh Sugar Mill Association, the farmers’ arrears on sugar mills in the state have gone up to Rs 6,718.98 crore from October 1, 2019 to January 31, 2020, while Rs 996.39 crore are pending from the crushing season 2018-19. While Rs 40.45 crore are outstanding on sugar mills for crushing season 2017-18, Rs 22.29 crore are pending for crushing season 2016-17. As per the ruling of the state government, the farmers have to be paid money within 14 days of sugarcane purchase.

The private sugar mills of Uttar Pradesh sit upon the highest unpaid arrears. In the current crushing season (from October 1, 2019, to January 31, 2020), the arrears of private sugar mills have increased to Rs 5,325 crore. While Rs 461 crore has been outstanding on cooperative sugar mills, Rs 109.71 crore has been outstanding on corporate sugar mills. 

In the current crushing season, crushing is going on in 119 sugar mills in Uttar Pradesh, while crushing was going on in 117 sugar mills during the same time last year. The production of sugar in the state has increased to 54.85 lakh tonnes in the current crushing season from 53.36 lakh tonnes of the same season last year. The average recovery in sugarcane this season is 10.89 per cent, while the average recovery in crushing season 2018-19 was 11.07 per cent. 

Uttar Pradesh is on top in terms of sugar production. More than 35 lakh farmer families in the state are involved in sugarcane cultivation. Sugarcane is being cultivated in 26.79 lakh hectare area in 2019-20 and 117 sugar mills are operating in the current crushing session in the state. The sugar industry in the state is about Rs 40,000 crore.

Uttar Pradesh’s sugar production in 2018-19 was of about 1.18 million tonnes, which is a little over 1.2 million tonnes of 2017-18. India’s sugar production is projected to fall by about 14 per cent to around 2.8 crore in 2019-20, compared to 3.3 million tonnes of the sugar season 2018-19. 

Sugar production in the country has dropped by 35 per cent to 45.8 lakh tonnes by December 15. The production of sugar during the same period in the marketing year 2018-19 was 70.5 lakh tonnes. The Indian Sugar Mills Association had said that until December 15, 2019, sugarcane crushing was going on in 406 mills as compared to 473 mills during this period last year.

Apart from Uttar Pradesh, farmers’ money has also been stuck in sugar mills in Maharashtra. According to a report by the Maharashtra Sugar Commissionerate, until December 15, 2019, the mills had taken Rs 534.80 crore worth of sugarcane from the farmers for the crushing season, out of which payment of only Rs 1,11.55 crore is made. Thus, the arrears of sugarcane farmers on sugar mills have reached Rs 415.24 crore.