Representative image of a man harvesting sugarcane.
Credit: Reuters Photo
Lucknow: About 90 per cent of the outstanding sugarcane dues of farmers in UP has been cleared, Sugarcane Development Minister Laxmi Narayan Chaudhary said on Monday.
He was replying to a question raised by SP member Ashutosh Singh in the state legislative council.
Chaudhary said that according to the current status of sugarcane price payment, the government has purchased sugarcane worth Rs 35,909 crore, out of which Rs 32,357 crore, that is 90.11 per cent of the outstanding dues, has been paid.
As soon as the next sugarcane crushing season begins, the remaining dues will be cleared, he said.
During the crushing season 2022-23, he said except for Rs 213 crore due on the Shamli mill, the remaining 99.99 per cent of sugarcane dues has been paid to farmers.
Chaudhary claimed that Uttar Pradesh ranks first in sugarcane production in the country.
"It is also the leader in sugarcane price payment. This is the first time in the history of the state that 82 sugar mills paid 100 per cent of their sugarcane price in the last season. The government has got weekly payments made to farmers from 21 mills," he said.
The minister said that from 2007 to 2017, the then Bahujan Samaj Party and Samajwadi Party governments paid Rs 1.47 lakh crore to sugarcane farmers, while in the last seven years, the current BJP-led government has paid Rs 2.53 lakh crore as sugarcane price.
The BJP government has also paid Rs 11,000 crore of sugarcane price due during the previous SP government.
The minister said that during the previous government, sugarcane was produced in 20 lakh hectares of area, which is now produced in 29 lakh hectares.