Yogi Adityanath govt raises sugarcane price by ₹20 per quintal in Uttar Pradesh

In Uttar Pradesh, the Yogi Adityanath government on Thursday, January 18, raised the state-advised price (SAP) for sugarcane by ₹20 per quintal, a few months ahead of the Lok Sabha election 2024. The decision was taken at a cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.

The early variety will fetch ₹370 per quintal and the common variety price will be ₹360 per quintal, Minister, Sugar Industry and Cane Development Department, Laxmi Narayan Chaudhary, briefed reporters in the state capital Lucknow.

The UP government was earlier paying ₹335 per quintal for the early variety of sugarcane and  ₹340 per quintal for the common variety. The top variety of sugarcane fetched ₹350 per quintal.

In addition to the Centre deciding the fair and remunerative price (FRP) on the crop, the SAP is determined by the governments of sugar-producing states, factoring in the cost of production in specific regions.

The Yogi government first raised the sugarcane SAP by ₹10 in 2017 after coming to power. It was further raised by ₹25 per quintal in 2021 before the UP assembly elections in 2022.

After today's hike in sugarcane SAP, the Yogi government has raised the cumulative support price by ₹55 per quintal in the last seven years.

As per a News18 Hindi report, the Yogi government has cleared the arrears worth ₹2.2 lakh crore in the last six years in Uttar Pradesh.

Meanwhile, Bhartiya Kisan Union (BKU) termed the cane price hike insufficient, news agency Press Trust of India (PTI) reported.

Talking with reporters at BKU headquarters at Sisauli near Muzaffarnagar, BKU National President Naresh Tikait said that the new sugarcane price is not acceptable for farmers.

Tikait demanded that the rate of ₹450 per quintal be fixed for the sugarcane.