Excessive sugarcane added to farmers dues towards mills: Pawar

New Delhi, Aug 20 (UNI) Sugar mills owe farmers Rs 4500 crores in dues this year because of excessive sugarcane production in the country and an anticipated 10 per cent more cane growth next year is a matter of concern for the government, Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar told the Lok Sabha today.

The world has surplus sugar production with India, too, having surplus sugar production estimated at 230 lakh tonnes this year excluding last year's huge carry-over stock when the country's domestic consumption was only 190 lakh tonnes. There no takers for Indian surplus sugar as the global market was already facing a glut. This peculiar situation was reflected in the fall of sugar prices and in reducing the capacity of mills to make the payment for the sugarcane they had procured from the farmers, Mr Pawar said.

Keeping this changed scenario in mind, the government had already allowed the sugar industry to raise the creation of a buffer stock of sugar from 20 lakh tonnes to 50 lakh tonnes with an additonal subsidy of Rs 945 crore from the Sugar Development Fund (SDF). This subsidy has been linked to the payment of arrears to the farmers, Mr Pawar said, adding that banks would also provide addtional credit of Rs 1050 crores to mills for payment of the farmers' arrears.

He informed members that maximum dues of farmers at around Rs 3000 crore (Rs 2969 crore) were standing towards the private mills while public sector mills owed only 320.16 crore and cooperative mills Rs 1140 crore.

The Minister said the state government should actively implement the provisions of the Sugarcane(Control) Order, 1966 which provides the farmers to get 15 per cent interest on the arrears after 14 days of the sale of the cane to the mills. Under the Act, the Stautory Minimum Price (SMP) mechanism was being implemented through a tripartite agreement between the farmers, the state governments' collectorate and the mills.

Besides, the government had taken several steps to promote the export of sugar like removal of ban on export of the commodity to EU countries and the US and subsidising the transport charges on exportable stocks.

Referring to several members' demand for increasing the price of sugarcane, Mr Pawar said the Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices (CACP) will come out with new SMP within a week or so.

UNI