Bhagwant Mann, chief minister of Punjab on Monday announced that the price of sugarcane would rise from the current Rs 360 per quintal to Rs 380 per quintal. On the last day of the Punjab Assembly's brief session, he announced an increase in the SAP (state agreed price) of sugarcane.
The SAP of sugarcane was increased by Rs 50 per quintal to Rs 360 per quintal in August 2021 by the then-Congress administration. According to Mann, farmers will receive an increase of Rs 20 per quintal under SAP of sugarcane from the previous year.
The state government would spend an additional Rs 200 crore on benefits for farmers as a result of this decision. According to Mann, the state's farmers are willing to undertake sugarcane farming as part of crop diversification, but they are hesitant because the crop doesn't have a sufficient price or timely payment.
In Punjab, just 1.25 lakh hectares of land are currently used for sugarcane cultivation, despite the fact that sugar mills' combined crushing capacity is roughly 2.50 lakh hectares. According to him, this is why the state government chose to raise the price in order to supplement farmers' income.
The chief minister explained the current state of the payments to the House, saying that while two private sugar mills have not yet paid the farmers' dues, the cooperative sugar mills have already paid all of their obligations.
The state government has already started the procedure to seize their assets in order to pay the remaining debt owed by the farmers, he said, adding that the owners of these mills had left the country.
