NEW DELHI: The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved the highest ever fair and remunerative price (FRP) of Rs 290 per quintal for sugarcane farmers for the next marketing year starting October 2021.
Briefing the media after the Cabinet meeting — which was headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi — food and consumer affairs minister Piyush Goyal said that the decision will benefit 5 crore sugarcane farmers as well as the 5 lakh workers employed in sugar mills across the country.
The government had fixed sugarcane FRP at Rs 285 per quintal for the current 2020-21 marketing year. Centre announces the FRP, the minimum price that mills have to pay to cane growers, every year before start of the sugarcane crushing season.
In order to ensure that higher sugar recoveries are adequately rewarded and considering variations amongst sugar mills, the FRP is linked to a basic recovery rate of sugar, with a premium payable to farmers for higher recoveries of sugar from sugarcane.
In order to ensure that higher sugar recoveries are adequately rewarded and considering variations amongst sugar mills, the FRP is linked to a basic recovery rate of sugar, with a premium payable to farmers for higher recoveries of sugar from sugarcane.
“When the recovery increases beyond 10 per cent, then on every point 1 per cent rise, additional Rs 2.90 is paid per quintal. Even if a farmer has less than 9.5 per cent recovery, their FRP will be Rs 275 per quintal,” Goyal said.
The Centre had in August 2020 increased the FRP by Rs 10, bringing the amount to Rs 285 per quintal. In 2019-2020, the government had fixed Sugarcane FRP at Rs 275 per quintal.
Under the FRP system, the farmers are not required to wait till the end of the season or for any announcement of the profits by sugar mills or the government.
The new system also assures margins on account of profit and risk to farmers, irrespective of the fact whether sugar mills generate profit or not and is not dependent on the performance of any individual sugar mill, according to the ministry of consumer affairs, food and public distribution.
(With inputs from agencies)
(With inputs from agencies)
The above news was originally posted on timesofindia.indiatimes.com
