State government to fix SAP for sugar cane

LUCKNOW: The state government has set rolling the process to fix the State Advised Price (SAP) for sugar cane and earmarking the cane reserve area for sugar mills. In the backdrop of a serious shortfall expected in cane production this year, cane is expecte dto fetch a much higher price this season.

As a result the government is also likely to fix a much higher SAP as compared to the previous crushing season. The SAP for 2008-09 was fixed at Rs 140/quintal and Rs 145/quintal fixed for the common and early varieties of cane, respectively. This year the sharp fall in cane is expected to lead to farmers getting good prices and mill owners even going out of their way to pay a premium over and above the SAP to ensure regular cane supply for their mills.

The state government has constituted two separate committees headed by the Cane Commissioner and the Chief Secretary to consult all stake holders and recommend SAP for 2009-10.

The Cane Commissioner has also initiated meetings with mill owners to earmark the cane reserve area for individual mills. Meetings with various mill owners has been convened from September 8 to September 17 after which the cane reserve area would be specified. With cane production expected to decline substantially, officials say that they are working to ensure that maximum cane is made available to mills for producing sugar.