Sugarcane farmers face double whammy
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Kathmandu, May 14
The coronavirus pandemic has added to the woes of sugarcane farmers, who had been already struggling to get better their due cost from sugar mills.
Generally, sugarcane harvesting season is from January to March.
“Since not all of the sugar mills had been working earlier this 12 months as a result of farmers’ protest, most farmers had been in a dilemma whether or not to reap their produce or not. And lastly, when sugar mills resumed operation, the federal government imposed the lockdown,” mentioned Rajesh Yadav, a sugarcane farmer from Sarlahi.
Furthermore, those that had already equipped sugarcane to the mills are once more unable to get their funds as a result of lockdown, he added.
Citing that the sugar mills weren’t clearing the dues of the sugarcane farmers, the latter had staged protests and farmers from a number of districts had even come to Kathmandu searching for the federal government’s intervention.
As per Yadav, sugarcane farmers had determined to start their second part of protest from March 17 to get better their dues. However, as a result of coronavirus, they needed to drop the plans. “Sugarcane farming is our technique of survival and we can not waste our merchandise,” he mentioned, “So, the farmers gave their sugarcane to the mills. However, we’ve got no hope for getting paid any time quickly.”
According to Kapil Muni Mainali, president of Nepal Federation of Sugarcane Producers (NFSP), 10 sugar mills have round Rs 220 million in excellent dues to farmers this 12 months.
“Out of 14 mills, solely 10 mills operated this 12 months because the farmers refused to offer sugarcane to 2 mills whereas two different mills have already shut,” he mentioned.
As per him, farmers didn’t present sugarcane to Annapurna Sugar Mills and Indira Sugar Mills as they nonetheless owe giant sums to farmers, whereas Baba Baidhyanath Sugar Mill and Shree Ram Sugar Mill are closed for the time being.
Mainali additional mentioned that banks within the rural areas are additionally not working easily resulting from which farmers are going through issues getting their cost.
Generally, annual manufacturing of sugarcane within the nation is 250,000 tonnes.
However, manufacturing has declined by 15 per cent this 12 months, he mentioned. “If the federal government continues to disregard the issues raised by sugarcane farmers, the manufacturing is prone to get affected within the close to future,” he added.
Meanwhile, Sashikant Agrawal, president of Nepal Sugar Mills Association, didn’t reply to repeated calls searching for his touch upon the matter.
A model of this text seems in e-paper on May 15, 2020, of The Himalayan Times.
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