Meerut: The lockdown imposed by the government to prevent the spread of Coronavirus pandemic has affected the sugarcane farmers as well as sugar mills. Mills are unable to sell the sugar amid lockdown, due to which sugar stocks are piling up in godown.
Mills are facing financial scarcity, therefore they unable to clear dues of cane producers, and it is also increasing day by day with the halt of sugar sale.
Deepak Guptara, secretary-general of UPSMA said, “The lockdown has impacted the domestic sugar demand, which is 70 per cent of our production. The exports are down due to the global crisis. Mills have almost exhausted their working capital. We fear that the prevailing crisis will adversely affect the payment mechanism.”
To come over the crisis, the UP government plans to give sugar to farmers instead of their dues. As per Times of India, Rakesh Tikait, national spokesperson of Bhartiya Kisan Union (BKU) said, “What are we going to do with sugar? Where are we going to sell these sacs when mills cannot. We want our money.”
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