Uttarakhand govt. fixes Sugarcane price at rupee 210-215

Uttarakhand government today fixed the state advised price (SAP) for sugarcane at Rs 210-215 per quintal for the current crushing season of 2010-11. Announcing this at a press conference, state sugarcane Minister Madan Kaushik said that this season, farmers of the state would get Rs 215 and Rs 210 per quintal for early and late variety of sugarcane, respectively. The SAP fixed for sugarcane in Uttarakhand are Rs 5 more per quintal than the neighbouring Uttar Pradesh, which has fixed prices at Rs 205 and 210, he said. Last year, the Uttarakhand government had announced price for sugarcane at Rs 192-197 per quintal. Kaushik said eight sugar mills have already started crushing sugarcane, while the remaining two would also become functional shortly.

The minister said the government expected an increase of 10 per cent in the area under sugarcane cultivation this year. Uttarakhand’s neighbourhood state UP has also fixed the sugarcane price in the same price bracket, however various kisan units have been planning to launch protest as they feel that the quoted price is far less than that of last year.