Bhagwant Mann announces increase in sugarcane sap on the last day of the brief session of Punjab Legislative Assembly
Bhagwant Mann announces increase in sugarcane sap on the last day of the brief session of Punjab Legislative Assembly
Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Manni On Monday, he announced to increase the price of sugarcane to Rs 380 per quintal from the existing Rs 360 per quintal.
He announced the hike in the SAP (State Agreed Price) of sugarcane on the floor of the Punjab Legislative Assembly on the day of his brief session.
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In August 2021, the then Congress government had announced an increase of ₹50 per quintal in sugarcane sap to ₹360 per quintal.
Mr. Mann said that farmers would get additional ₹ 20 per quintal under sugarcane sap as compared to last year.
With this decision, the state government will spend an additional ₹200 crore annually to benefit the farmers.
Mr. Mann said that the farmers of the state eagerly want to adopt sugarcane crop under crop diversification, but they are hesitant to do so due to non-availability of adequate price and non-payment of crop on time.
Currently, sugarcane is cultivated on only 1.25 lakh hectares in Punjab, while the total crushing capacity of sugar mills is about 2.50 lakh hectares. This is the reason why the state government has decided to increase the price to supplement the income of the farmers, he said.
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Informing the House about the present status of payment, the Chief Minister said that the cooperative sugar mills have already cleared the entire arrears of the farmers, but two private sugar mills have not paid the dues yet.
The owners of these mills have fled the country, he said, adding that the state government has started the process of confiscation of their property to clear the dues of the farmers.