NEW DELHI: In a move that aims to benefit over 5 crore sugarcane growers, the government on Wednesday approved the Fair and Remunerative Price (FRP) of Rs 315 per quintal for a basic recovery rate of 10.25% for the 2023-24 season (October- September). This is the highest FRP that the farmers have ever got.
Announcing the decision taken at the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, Union Minister Anurag Singh Thakur said, “It has also been approved to provide a premium of Rs 3.07 per quintal for each 0.1% increase in recovery over and above 10.25%, and reduction in FRP by Rs 3.07 per quintal for every 0.1% decrease in recovery.”
Further, with a view to protecting the interest of sugarcane farmers, the government has also decided that there shall be no deduction in the case of sugar mills where recovery is below 9.5%. Such farmers will get Rs 291.975 per quintal for sugarcane in the ensuing sugar season of 2023-24, in place of Rs 282.125 per quintal in the current season of 2022-23.
The cost of production of sugarcane for 2023-24 is Rs 157 per quintal. This FRP of Rs 315 per quintal at a recovery rate of 10.25% is higher by 100.6% than the production cost. The FRP for 2023-24 is 3.28% higher than the current sugar season.
The FRP approved shall be applicable for the purchase of sugarcane from the farmers in 2023-24 (starting October 1, 2023) by sugar mills. Thakur said in the current season, about 3,353 lakh tonnes of sugarcane worth Rs 1,11,366 crore was purchased by sugar mills, which is the second highest, next to the procurement of paddy at the minimum support price.
The growth of ethanol as a biofuel sector in the last five years has amply supported the sugarcane farmers and sugar sector, as the diversion of sugarcane/sugar to ethanol has led to better financial positions for sugar mills due to faster payments, reduced working capital requirements and reduced blockage of funds due to less surplus sugar with mills, thereby enabling them to make timely payment of cane dues of farmers, Thakur said.
The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, also approved a new scheme, PM-PRANAM, to promote alternative fertilisers and reduce the use of chemical ones. It also decided to continue the current urea subsidy scheme for three years ending March 2025, with an outlay of Rs 3.68 lakh crore.
Union Chemicals and Fertilisers Minister Mansukh Mandaviya said that under the scheme, the states who will adopt alternative fertilisers will be incentivised with the subsidy that is saved by reducing the use of chemical fertilisers. Citing an example, suppose a state is using 10 lakh tonne of conventional fertiliser, and if it reduces its consumption by 3 lakh tonne, then the subsidy saving would be Rs 3,000 crore. Out of that subsidy savings, the Centre will give 50 per cent of it Rs 1,500 crore to the state.