Sugarcane growers meet on Nov 19 at Nelakondapalli

Chikkadpally: Telangana Rythu Sangham general secretary T Sagar has urged sugarcane farmers to attend the state-level sugarcane growers meeting to be held at Nelakondapalli of Khammam district on November 19.

Speaking to media, T Sagar said that the cultivation of sugarcane in Telangana state has drastically come down to 53,000 acres in 2019 Kharif season, from 1.1 lakh acres in the past. He alleged that the state government has deliberately discouraged cultivation of sugarcane in the state. Lack of incentives, farming advice and research on improving outputs has led to the fall in cultivation, he said.

Of total 11 sugarcane factories in the state, four factories were already shut down and the remaining factories are being operated at below full capacity. Currently, only 22.76 lakh tonnes of sugar is produced in the state and the production is expected to come down further this year, the Sangham leader said.

Although the Centre hiked fair remunerative price (FRP) of sugarcane to Rs 275 per quintal, it did not benefit farmers as the recovery per cent increased from 9.5 per cent to 10 this year.

The state government too had not declared state advisory price (SAP) for the last 10 years. As a result, the sugarcane price has not exceeded Rs 3,000 per tonne, he said. Telangana Rythu Sangham state president P Janga Reddy, state leader M Shobhan and others participated in the press conference.