December 12: Sugarcane farmers are at the receiving end as the government has not been able to fix the price of sugarcane on time. Thousands of farmers from over two dozen districts of the Terai region are involved in commercial farming of sugarcane. Despite the onset of the crushing season, the government still has not been able to determine the price of sugarcane this year. The farmers are in a dilemma due to this very reason.

These days, farmers are compelled to visit the government’s administrative building - Singha Durbar -  after the government showed no interest to determine the price of sugarcane. Last Thursday, the farmers' representative met Agriculture Minister Mahendra Raya Yadav and Agriculture Secretary Govinda Prasad Sharma and put pressure on them to fix the price of sugarcane.

During the meeting, they demanded to fix a fair price of sugarcane on the basis of production cost and selling price of sugar, said Kapil Muni Mainali, the president of Federation of Sugarcane Producers. They put forth their demand for maintaining the price of sugarcane at Rs 650 per quintal for this year.

"We have demanded that the minimum price of sugarcane be fixed at Rs 650 per quintal this year," said president Mainali adding, “If the prices allocated are not based on production cost, farmers will stop commercial farming of sugarcane. We have drawn the attention of the government and industrialists in this matter”.

Prakash Sanjel, the spokesperson for the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development informed that preparations are being made to allocate the price of sugarcane for this year within this week itself. He claimed that this year's pricing of sugarcane will be more scientific and practical than it was in the previous years.

According to the Ministry of Agriculture, the ministry had conducted a field study in 10 districts of the Terai, which is considered as a pocket area of ​​sugarcane, to determine the price of sugarcane for this year. As per the ministry, more than 30 study samples have been collected from each district. 

How was the price for sugarcane fixed last year?

Last year, the government had fixed the price of sugarcane at Rs 544.33 per quintal. The breakdown of the amount is given as the price of sugarcane (Rs 386.16), transportation cost and profit (Rs 92.89), and per quintal grant given by the government (Rs 65.28).

The price had increased by only Rs 8 per quintal last year as compared to the previous year. However, the Federation of Sugarcane Producers of Nepal has demanded to fix the price of sugarcane by an additional amount of Rs 106 per quintal as compared to last year.

Sugarcane cultivation in the Terai has been declining for the past few years due to cost overruns. Farmers have been destroying sugarcane due to the problem of not getting the price in proportion to the cost and industrialists not paying the price fixed by the government on time.

Industries on the verge of closing due to shortage of sugarcane

Due to the shortage of sugarcane, the industries are on the verge of closure. The sugar industry, which used to remain operational for 4-5 months in winter a few years back, has now started to close within 2 months of operation due to lack of sugarcane.

According to Thakur Nepal, the head of the administration department of Indu Shankar Sugar Industry, sugar industries used to start their operation towards the end of November itself until a few years back. However, he said that there are no signs of starting the operation of the sugar industry even until mid-December this year.

Apart from Indu Shankar Sugar Industry of Sarlahi and Everest Sugar Industry of Mahottari, all the other sugar industries of the country have not paid their dues to the farmers on time. The sugarcane farmers have been upset and de-motivated by this behavior of the industries. As a consequence, farmers have started planting crops other than sugarcane.

Commercial farming of sugarcane has been taking place in Sarlahi, Mahottari, Dhanusha, Siraha, Saptari, Sunsari, Morang, Rautahat, Bara, Parsa, Nawalparasi and Rupandehi districts in the Terai. Statistics show that Nepal produced 120,000 metric tons of sugar last year. The country has an annual demand of 250,000 metric tons of sugar.