Cabinet approves increase in sugarcane FRP to ₹315/quintal for 2023-24 season
1 min read 28 Jun 2023, 04:52 PM ISTIn the current 2022-23 marketing year, about 3,353 lakh tonne of sugarcane worth ₹1.11 trillion has been purchased by sugar mills.
PremiumNew Delhi: The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on Wednesday approved a 10-rupee increase in fair and remunerative price (FRP) of sugarcane to ₹315 per quintal for the 2023-24 marketing season, starting October.
The prime minister has always been with the “annadata". The government has given priority to agriculture and the farmers, Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Thakur told reporters after the Cabinet meeting.
The FRP of sugarcane, which stood at ₹210 per quintal in 2014-15 season, has now been increased to ₹315 per quintal for 2023-24 season, Thakur added.
In May, the Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices (CACP) recommended the FRP for a basic recovery rate of 10.25%.
Higher the recovery, the higher will be the cane price. The recovery rate is the quantum of sugar produced from sugarcane.
"Further, with a view to protect interest of sugarcane farmers, government has also decided that there shall not be any deduction in case of sugar mills where recovery is below 9.5 per cent. Such farmers will get ₹291.975 per quintal for sugarcane in ensuing sugar season 2023-24 in place of ₹282.125 per quintal in current sugar season 2022-23," according to an official statement.
The decision on FRP is crucial in the run-up to Lok Sabha elections, scheduled for 2024. The sugar sector is an important agro-based sector that impacts the livelihood of about 5 crore sugarcane farmers and their dependents and around 5 lakh workers directly employed in sugar mills, apart from those employed in various ancillary activities including farm labour and transportation, as per the statement.
In the current 2022-23 marketing year, about 3,353 lakh tonne of sugarcane worth ₹1.11 trillion has been purchased by sugar mills.
Also, at a time when the government is trying to increase ethanol blending to 15% next season, farmers need to be encouraged so that they do not lower the sugarcane acreage.
Sugar output is estimated to have fallen in the current season (October-September) to 32.8 million tonne from 35.76 million tonne in 2021-22, as per the Indian Sugar Mills Association (ISMA).
