Cane farmers seek disbursal of arrears of Rs 2,050 crore

At the 8th state conference of farmers, they said that the government should initiate action against 24 private sugar mills that had not paid the Minimum Support Price (MSP) to the tune of Rs 1,820 crore for the past four years. The Co-operative and public sector sugar mills had to pay a default amount of Rs 230 crore, they informed. Stating that the government should fix the State Advisory Price (SAP) for sugarcane at Rs 4000 per tonne this crushing season, the farmers wanted the crop loans to be waived. 

Meanwhile, the conference demanded to accelerate the power generation project in sugar mills which was a non-starter for nearly eight years and take steps to run the mills profitably.

Pointing out the sugar production in the state had come down from 21.3 lakh tonnes in 2011-12 to 9.6 lakh tonnes in 201617, the conference attributed the non-payment of arrears to farmers and drought as main reasons for the steep fall in production. It urged the government to introduce good varieties of sugarcane and expand the sugarcane development programme to improve production. 

The conference also wanted the constitution of the Cauvery Management Board (CMB), waiver of loans and extended solidarity to the farmers protesting in Kathiramangalam and Neduvasal against ONGC and Hydrocarbon projects respectively. Earlier, the farmers took out a rally from Sivagangai park to the conference venue.