Cabinet approves increase in sugarcane procurement price by ₹25 to ₹340/quintal

livemint.com:

₹340 per quintal for the 2024-25 marketing season, on a day the protesting farmers marching to Delhi clashed with the police on the Punjab-Haryana border. The sugarcane marketing season runs from October to September. The “significant" increase in the procurement price of sugarcane is about 8% higher than the FRP of sugarcane for the current 2023-24 season, which is ₹315/ quintal.

It is estimated that this decision will help over 5 crore sugarcane farmers and their families. With this approval, sugar mills will pay an FRP of ₹340 per quintal of sugarcane at a sugar recovery rate of 10.25%. With every 0.1% increase in recovery, farmers will get an additional ₹3.32 per quintal, while the same amount will be deducted on reduction of recovery by 0.1%, said Union minister for information and broadcasting Anurag Thakur after the Cabinet meeting.

However, ₹315.10 a quintal is the minimum price for sugarcane, at a recovery rate of 9.5%. Even if sugar recovery is less, farmers are assured of an FRP at ₹315.10 per quintal. The decision on sugarcane procurement price comes ahead of the Lok Sabha elections and amid protests by Punjab farmers who are agitating to secure a legal guarantee to the minimum support price mechanism, and full debt waiver, among others.