Protesting farmers burn sugarcane crop in Uttar Pradesh

Growing resentment against the sugarcane price policy of the central government has prompted farmers to burn their produce in parts of Uttar Pradesh.

At least 20-25 incidents of farmers setting ablaze their own produce have been reported from Meerut and Muzaffarnagar districts over the past two days.

"More such protests will likely follow if the central government did not withdraw its ordinance, which discourages states from offering higher purchase prices for sugarcane," V.M. Singh, president of farmers' lobby Kisan Mazdoor Sangathan, told IANS on phone from Muzaffarnagar.

He said the the current practice of fixing sugarcane prices by the government "is guided more by the interest of sugar mill owners than the farmers".

According to the Oct 23 ordinance, if the state advised price (SAP) is higher than the fair remunerative price (FRP) determined by the central government, the state governments will have to pay the excess amount.

This ordinance would discourage the state governments from announcing higher SAP, farmers said. Sugarcane farmers in the state are spearheading an agitation against the ordinance ever since it was issued.

Bulk of the state's four million sugarcane growers have resolved to put up a united fight against what they termed as "gross injustice".

What had made the farmers feel more discriminated was the rapidly increasing price of sugar.

"Even though it was widely accepted that the final sugar recovery was of the order of 9-10 percent, the market price of sugar was far higher in proportion," Singh said.

"After all sugar was selling between Rs.35 and Rs.40 a kilogram in the market, but the farmer was being denied even his production cost."

Last updated on Nov 4^th, 2009 at 18:59 pm IST--IANS