Puranpur : Farmers cultivating sugarcane are facing considerable challenges as the silence looms over centers due to significantly reduced arrivals, exacerbating their plight. These farmers find themselves compelled to sell their sugarcane at neighboring mills and crushers at prices well below their expectations, owing to the meager income from procurement centers, according to jagran.
In the region, procurement centers affiliated with the LHC sugar mill of Peelibheet are operational. Despite three months having elapsed since the commencement of the crushing season, numerous farmers still await the receipt of essential procurement receipts. The prevailing scarcity of indentures at most procurement centers has led to an unsettling quiet, leaving sugarcane in the fields to wither due to the absence of receipts.
Farmers are struggling to sell sugarcane to the sugar mill due to the shortage of essential indentures. The absence of these critical documents forces farmers to sell their produce at local crushers at significantly reduced rates, resulting in substantial losses. Farmers attribute the unavailability of indentures to the careless and arbitrary handling of the survey process.
Despite the diminished availability of sugarcane, the survey has been expanded, creating a situation where even those without sugarcane have managed to manipulate the survey teams to their advantage. The illicit gains from these deceptive practices are being exploited by the sugarcane mafia.
The lack of procurement receipts is causing the sugarcane to dry up in the fields, as farmers resort to selling their produce at higher profits through private transactions. With sugarcane prices rising by an additional 20 rupees, unscrupulous middlemen are purchasing sugarcane from farmers at rates ranging from 300 to 310 rupees in cash. Farmers are advocating for the fair and proportional dispatch of indents to meet the demand for procuring sugarcane.
RP Kushwaha, Secretary, of the Sugarcane Committee, Purnapur, said, the sugar mill is dispatching indents based on its processing capacity, yet farmers are urged to increase indent numbers. The farmers lacking sugarcane but having their names on the survey lists will undergo scrutiny by sugar inspectors, and illegal transactions will be curtailed. All farmers are assured of timely procurement of sugarcane.
