Haryana sugarcane farmers to hold State-wide protests seeking hike in support price

They would burn effigies of the government outside the MLAs residences on December 29 and stop sugarcane supply to mills for three hours on January 5, 2023 as a mark of token protest

Sugarcane farmers in Haryana have decided to kick-off a State-wide agitation outside the residences of ruling coalition legislators and sugar mills to seek a hike in the crop’s support price.

The decision was taken at a meeting of representatives of Ganna Kisan Sangharsh Samiti and Bharatiya Kisan Union (Charuni) in Karnal.

They would burn effigies of the government outside the MLAs residences on December 29 and stop sugarcane supply to mills for three hours on January 5, 2023 as a mark of token protest. The farmers will also stage sit-in agitations outside sugar mills across the State on January 5 until their demands are met. A “Kisan Mahapanchayat” has also been called on January 10, 2023 to chalk out the strategy for the future course of action.

Samiti’s State vice-president Rampal Chahal accused the government of going back on its word and not increasing the support price for the crop this year. “Haryana Agriculture Minister J.P. Dalal had hinted in an interaction with the media two months ago that the support price for the sugarcane would be fixed around ₹400 per quintal. But the government has notified the support price of ₹362 per quintal, which is the same as the previous year. It has been tradition for the Haryana government to revise the price every year and offer the highest support price in the country. But this year, Punjab has announced higher support price at ₹380 per quintal,” said Mr. Chahal.

Bharatiya Kisan Union (Charuni) leader Rakesh Bains demanded that the support price be fixed at ₹450 per quintal. “The input cost for the sugarcane crop has gone up substantially with the rise in prices of pesticides, fertilisers, diesel and labour and the consumer price inflation too is around 7%, but the government had not increased the support price,” said Mr. Bains.

Haryana has 14 sugar mills with maximum three in Karnal, and two each in Rohtak and Sonipat. While seven districts have one sugar mill each, the rest of the 10 districts have none. Mr. Chahal said that around 65-70% farmers in the districts with the sugar mills grew sugarcane and were impacted by the government’s decision to not hike the price.