Jagityal: Sugarcane farmers have urged the state government to cover the cost of transporting their produce to factories.
Farmers, who used to supply sugarcane to Nizam Deccan Sugars Limited, Mutyampet of Mallapur mandal, are now transporting the crop to a private sugar factory in Kamareddy district after the closure of Mutyampet unit in 2015, reported Telangana Today.
The government had promised to reopen the unit before this year’s crushing season in December. However, no steps were taken, leaving farmers with no choice but to transport sugarcane to Kamareddy again.
The distance between Mutyampet and Kamareddy is around 150 km.
The closure of three NDSL units, Mutyampet, Shakkarnagar in Bodhan, and Munjojupalli in Medak, was announced on December 23, 2015. Since then, the area under sugarcane cultivation in Mutyampet has fallen from 10,000 acres to just 1,500 acres.
When the factory was running, farmers received support for seed, fertilizer, crop cutting, and transport. But now, the private factory management is said to be imposing restrictions instead of offering such support.
As per the media report, many farmers have shifted to other crops like paddy, though a few continue to grow sugarcane despite poor returns. Each acre yields about 40 tonnes of cane, which is beimg procured at ₹3,470 per tonne. Farmers spend around ₹860 per acre for crop cutting and ₹500 per tonne for transportation.
Seeking relief, farmers asked the state government to reimburse transportation costs. Some of them recently raised the issue with IT and Industries Minister D. Sridhar Babu during his visit to Jagtial.
The Minister responded positively and assured that he would bring the matter to the government’s attention to find a solution.
