VISAKHAPATNAM: Years of neglect by successive governments, low Fair and Remunerative Price (FRP) which is Rs 1,800 per tonne, soaring input and labour costs are forcing sugarcane-growers under the purview of four cooperative sugar factories (Chodavaram, Etikoppaka, Tandava and Anakapalle) in Visakhapatnam district and another in Vizianagaram to take up cultivation of other commercial crops.As a result, sugarcane farmers are shifting to crops like maize, red gram and other cash crops because the future for sugar cultivation seems to be bleak as the availability of raw-material is gradually decreasing.Moreover, farmers do not make profits but are forced to incur losses, leaving them with no option but to shift to other crops that fetch them profits or quit farming altogether.Though the four co-operative sugar factories in Visakhapatnam district crushed 9.6 lakh tonnes of sugarcane to produce 9.2 lakh quintals of sugar in 2011, the highest in the last five years, the mills are in a sorry state, crying out for attention.Sugarcane growers, who are tired of asking the cooperatives to fix the FRP at Rs 3,000 per tonne, say that the management has failed to pay heed to their requests.But collector Luv Agarwal, who is the chairman of cooperative mills in the district, said that it was not possible to fix the FRP at Rs 2,500 or pay bonus to sugarcane farmers because the sugar mills were muddling through a situation where neither losses were incurred not profits were made.Whatever the situation, sugarcane prices continue to fluctuate.Between September 2009 and July 2010, a quintal of sugar was priced at Rs 4,000 because the prices in the international market shot up, following which cane prices were increased considerably.According to A Sitarama Rao, assistant cane commissioner, Anakapalle, though the price was initially Rs 1,500 per tonne in 2010, subsequently it went up to Rs 1,800 and finally touched Rs 2,200.“This year sugar prices have plummeted to Rs 2,600 a quintal but factories are paying only Rs 1,800 per tonne cane.”CULTIVATION SHRINKSIn a span of five years, the area in which cane is cultivated has shrunk by 17,000 hectares. Five years ago, sugarcane was cultivated in 47,000 hectares. But, gradually it has shrunk to 43,000 hectares and last year to 39,145 hectares.This year cane was cultivated in 30,000 hectares, said R Ankaiah, associate director of research of the Regional Agricultural Research Station at Anakapalle.Because factories are not fixing a higher FRP, the sugarcane cultivation has gone down.“Factories should pay at least Rs 3,000 per tonne of sugarcane, considering the rising costs of cultivation, harvest and transportation of cane to factories,” added Ankaiah.Ankaiah and Chodavaram MLA KSN Raju say that Visakhapatnam and its surrounding districts are suitable for sugarcane cultivation but are not utilised properly.Compared to others, sugarcane, a rain-fed crop, lives longer though its input costs have been rising. And, the irony is that the farmers spend about 40 per cent of the investment on harvesting the crop but do not get adequate returns from co-operatives.District president of AP rythu sangham A Balakrishna said fixing the FRP at Rs 1,800 a tonne last crushing season was of no use because factories were then offering sugar price greater than Rs 26,000 a tonne.“In Bodhan, which is in the Telangana region, factory managements have have offered upto Rs 2,500 in a bid to prevent transporting the produce to sugar-rich Maharashtra,” he added.Balakrishna explained that all the cooperative sugar mills in the region have been crushing less than the factories’ potential because of raw material shortage.“If factories fail to announce FRP as Rs 3,000 in the next crushing season, sugar mills will have to almost close down,” he said.FACTORIES EARN BIGGorle Suresh, a sugarcane farmer from Chodavaram mandal, said that due to poor returns from the crop, he has switched over to maize and millets.He said he used to cultivate sugarcane in six hectares of land but this year, he chose to cultivate sugarcane only in two hectares, aware of the fact it would not fetch him good returns.According to the Supreme Court’s verdict, the state government can announce State Advisory Price for sugarcane but the government is silent about it while the sugar factories’ managements are cashing in on the opportunity and exploiting farmers.Although sugar factories make profits from sale of sugar and its byproducts, they do not pay a remunerative price to sugarcane growers.“The state government’s tight-lipped act is encouraging sugar factories to take the farmers for a ride. If majority of the sugarcane farmers migrate to commercial crops, sugar mills will face acute shortage of raw material and have to eventually close down,” said Ankaiah.
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