LS Demands Rs. 250 SAP For Sugarcane

The Lok Satta Party on Thursday demanded that the State Government announce a minimum State Advisory Price (SAP) of Rs. 250 per quintal of sugarcane for the 2011-12 crushing season, not succumbing to the sugar lobby in the state Cabinet and among MPs.

Lok Satta Party State Working President D V V S Varma and Secretary P Bhaskara Rao said that by not announcing an SAP at all for the last few years, the state government has left farmers and tenants to the mercy of sugar factories and their agents.

The government's complacency has emboldened the managements of sugar factory to pay different rates in different regions, he lamented.

Both the state and central governments have let farmers and tenants down by not considering the increase in costs of cultivation of sugarcane and the growing international demand for sugar in fixing the cane price. Considering that the cost of cultivation works out to Rs. 40,000 per acre, the Union government's Fair & Remunerative Price of Rs. 145 is grossly unfair and non-remunerative, he said.

The Lok Satta leaders pointed out that the UP government had fixed a State Advisory Price as Rs. 250 and the Punjab government Rs. 220, per quintal. AP must emulate its counterparts and announce an advisory price of Rs. 250 a quintal, the Lok Satta demanded.

Lok Satta leaders recalled that at a number of places farmers had switched over to sugarcane this year as the state government had failed to ensure even the Minimum Support Price for paddy in the last crop season.

If the government does not go to their rescue at least now, there is the risk of farmers declaring a crop holiday for cane, too, they warned. (INN)