Kathmandu: The rift among the sugarcane farmers’ organisations have emerged with the Sugarcane Farmers’ Struggle Committee (SFSC) blaming government over pending dues and Nepal Federation of Sugarcane Producers (NFSP) welcoming the government’s initiative.
NFSP in a recent meeting in Sarlahi district thanked the government for taking efforts to support cane growers. Kapil Muni Mainali, president of NFSP said, “We appreciate the government for taking initiative for recovery of pending dues.”
The meeting was convened between local government and farmers from Sarlahi, Bara, Parsa, Rautahat, Mahottari and Dhanusha.
“Government is on the right track and farmers should support the government. Agitations against sugar mill owners and closing down mills won’t help farmers in the long run,” he said.
However, SFSC members have stated that they will launch an agitation on road for farmers’ welfare. Rajesh Yadav, SFSC’s committee member said, “We had talks with Mainali regarding the issue and expected to pressurise the government to do the needful. After federation failed to take stand in farmers’ favour, we have decided to protest at Kathmandu.”
Sugarcane farmers in Nepal are upset as many of them have yet not received sugarcane dues. Recently, the bank accounts of two sugar mills namely Annapurna Sugar mill and Lumbini Sugar mill have been frozen as they failed to clear arrears of cane growers.
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