Sugarcane farmers agitated as budget omits subsidy

By Rabindra Upreti,Bardibas, June 2: Sugarcane farmers are in a state of confusion and anger after the government did not address sugarcane subsidy in the budget speech for the upcoming fiscal year 2025/26.

The government had been specifying the subsidy amount provided to sugarcane farmers every year in the budget speech. 

For the current fiscal year, the government announced the subsidy of Rs. 70 per quintal provided to sugarcane farmers through the budget speech.

However, as there was no mention of sugarcane subsidy in this budget, farmers have reached a state of protest, said Maha Shankar Thing, a central member of the Federation of Sugarcane Producers' Association.

Thing said, "Earlier, sugarcane subsidy was mentioned in the budget speech. It does not seem to have been included in the upcoming budget presented by the government on Thursday. If the subsidy is not continued, the sugarcane farmers will be forced to go on strike."

Earlier, the Federation had been demanding that the current price of sugarcane to be paid by the industrialists be increased from Rs. 565 to Rs. 750 per quintal. 

However, the government, without involving the farmer representatives, increased the price by only Rs. 20 per quintal to Rs. 585, and the farmers have been expressing dissatisfaction.

Adding the Rs. 70 subsidy, the sugarcane price in the current fiscal year reached Rs. 655 per quintal. However, the sugarcane farmers have been treated unfairly by the state by not mentioning the Rs. 70 subsidy in the budget speech, said Thing.

Thing added, “We are busy with the homework of calling a meeting of sugarcane farmers to consult on what kind of agitation to launch if the subsidy is not received."

According to the District Treasury Controller Officer, Mahottari, Everest Sugar Mills in Ramnagar has crushed around 3.14 million quintals of sugarcane this year.

According to chief of the Everest Sugar Mills Bal Krishna Adhikari, the subsidy amount of sugarcane crushed at the rate of Rs. 70 per quintal is Rs. 217.2 million.

He said, "We have already written to the concerned body in the month of Baishakh as per the decision of the Sugarcane Subsidy Recommendation Committee to deposit this subsidy amount in the bank accounts of 14,533 farmers."

Last year, 14,444 farmers in Mahottari received a subsidy of Rs. 203.3 million before Dashain festival.

The government had been providing the subsidy for the previous year after the budget speech.

Naresh Kushwaha, president of the Sugarcane Producers' Association, Mahottari said that it was ironic that there was no mention of subsidies for sugarcane in the new budget speech.

According to him, even though the industrialists did not pay reasonable price for sugarcane, the subsidy given by the government had brought relief and happiness to the sugarcane farmers. 

This subsidy had helped maintain farmers' confidence and enthusiasm for sugarcane farming, he said.

Kushwaha said, "If the price is not increased and the subsidy is stopped, there is no alternative to protesting and giving up sugarcane cultivation. However, we are hopeful that the government will continue to provide sugarcane subsidy."