The Punjab government announced the State Advised Price (SAP) for sugarcane to increase by Rs 11 per quintal. The chief minister, Bhagwant Mann, referred to this increase to Rs 391 per quintal as a Punjabi custom known as “shagun”. Before the cane crushing season officially begins in November, the decision was made in response to pleas from sugarcane growers.

Bhagwant Mann, the chief minister of Punjab, has invited the heads of farmer unions to a meeting at his official residence today at noon to discuss this ongoing matter.

This meeting is in response to the Chief Minister’s request to confer with farmers two days prior, during which he urged them not to obstruct roads in a way that would cause difficulty to the public.

Punjab Protests

Officials reported that protesting farmers on Thursday blocked a section of the railway track close to Dhanowali village in Jalandhar, further strengthening their position and interfering with train operation.

On Friday, the fourth day of the protests, farmers in Jalandhar, Punjab, continued to roadblock the roadway in protest of higher sugarcane prices.

The protest is being led by Bharti Kisan Union (Doaba), which has been holding a “dharna” for the previous four days. This has blocked the Jalandhar-Phagwara part of the highway and caused traffic jams between Jalandhar and Delhi.

On arriving at the protest site, Hoshiarpur Deputy Commissioner Komal Mittal announced that cars had been diverted via many other routes. She claimed negotiations with the farmers were in progress to remove the roadblock and put an end to their protest.

According to Gurnam Singh leading the protests, farmers in the Mukerian belt, who lost a lot of money to flooding during this year’s rainy season, are still waiting on compensation, for their destroyed property, which includes crops. He said that their standing sugarcane crop had also been harmed by the floodwaters.

The traffic flow of cars traveling from Jammu, Pathankot, and Amritsar to Ludhiana, Chandigarh, Nawanshahr, and Delhi has been greatly affected by the protest in Jalandhar.

Balbir Singh Rajewal, the president of the Bharatiya Kisan Union (Rajewal), quickly objected to the raise. It’s insufficient. I recently arrived in Punjab after being overseas. We’re going to have a meeting soon to decide on the next steps, Rajewal stated.

Manjit Singh Rai, president of BKU (Doaba), declared, “The price increase is too small.” A treachery against farmers, that is. We find the price increase to be unacceptable.

“He informed us that Punjab would see an increase in cane prices beyond Rs 14 per quintal at our meeting with the chief minister in Chandigarh last week. Haryana has just raised cane prices by Rs 14 per quintal. Thus, we anticipated a boost of at least Rs 400 or more,” Rai stated, adding that farmers will once more be compelled to demonstrate in the event that the government fails to raise cane prices “as promised.”

According to Rajewal, Punjab was not a profitable place to grow sugarcane. “For this reason, growers of sugarcane are abandoning the crop. This state has higher input costs than any other, he continued.

Regarding how the protests by farmers are causing inconvenience to citizens, Rajewal remarked, “What would farmers do when governments do not listen? To get the government to listen to them, they are compelled to use various forms of protest.

Mann added that as of this Saturday, December 2, all commercial and cooperative sugar mills will begin crushing sugarcane at the new rates.

Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar of neighboring Haryana announced on November 6, a raise in tariffs of Rs 14 per quintal, bringing the total to Rs 386 per quintal. Khattar had increased prices by Rs 10 earlier in the year as well. In addition, Khattar declared that starting the following year, sugarcane prices will increase to Rs 400 per quintal. Haryana is scheduled to have assembly elections in October of 2024.

When contacted, Rana Sugars’ Rana Inder Partap Singh stated that the private crushers would have to pay around Rs 5.50 of the Rs 11 increase. “It will result in an extra 50 crore of burden for the industry,” he continued.

Punjab Sugarcane Sector

The sugar sector also laments Punjab’s sugarcane’s lower sucrose content when compared to other states like Maharashtra. Although the farmers attribute it to the intense cold, experts claim that Punjabi farmers harvest their crops ahead of schedule. An expert stated, “The sucrose content will be higher if they harvest it after December.”

In Punjab, the percentage of sugar realized from sugarcane is approximately 8%, whereas in Maharashtra, Gujarat, and Tamil Nadu, it might reach 14%. Industry insiders claim that this has an impact on sugar’s cost and quality. In addition, the national average affects the price of sugar. A manufacturer remarked, “We cannot sell sugar for more than the market will bear.”

Members of many farmer unions in the Doaba zone, under the leadership of Gurnam Singh, organized a dharna and stopped traffic at Dugri Chowk close to Mukerian Sugar Mill, which is around 65 kilometers away from Hoshiarpur.

In the meantime, Mann stated in the most recent official statement that his government is dedicated to ensuring the welfare of all societal classes, including farmers, traders, the underprivileged, employees, and others.
In order to guarantee that a “rangla (vibrant) Punjab” be carved out, the chief minister stated that good news will also be conveyed in the coming days to various segments of society.