Sanguem: The sugarcane farmers from Sanguem taluka are bitterly sore over the delay caused in the payment of the sugarcane supplied to the sugarcane factories in Khanapur despite the fact that three months having passed since the first harvesting was done in the taluka.
A prominent cane cultivator from Sanguem and Chairman of Kurdi Wadem Vividh Kari Sahakar Society, Francisco Mascarenhas, informed that the cane cultivators from Sanguem, which numbers around 500 are totally disappointed and are eagerly waiting for their payment.
Mascarenhas denied the claim made by the government of the sugarcane cultivators being partly paid of their dues. In reality only 20% of the total sugarcane cultivators in the State have received a part payment of Rs 1,200 per tonne as against the total payment of Rs 3,600 per tonne. In Sanguem taluka, only around 40 farmers have received the part payment as of date while the remaining 460 farmers are yet to receive any payment, informed Mascarenhas.
The amount received by the 40 farmers is sufficient enough to clear the labour charges toward harvesting. The farmers are left with no income at hand to proceed with further cultivation of the sugarcane crop despite having supplied around 28,000 tonnes of sugarcane during the current season, claimed Mascarenhas while further adding that the farmers are also reeling under the pressure of paying back the loans, which they had obtained for sugarcane cultivation.
Given the delay caused by the government in the payment to the sugarcane farmers, the farmers are facing extreme difficulties in undertaking the maintenance of their agricultural plots and that of fresh plantation, as they don’t have money to source the seeds and fertilizers to begin with the activity.
Former Sanguem MLA Subhash Phaldessai, while speaking to the media on Tuesday, claimed that the government should immediately consider the farmers demand as otherwise there will be severe repercussions on the sugarcane farming in the remote areas. While claiming this to be not the right time to press the government with any demand given the nationwide COVID-19 lockdown, nevertheless the government should not ignore the plight and the problems faced by the farming community who do not have any other source but are solely dependent on income from agricultural sector for their living.
Phaldessai also urged the Government to devise an apt mechanism for payment of compensation to the farmers who could not harvest their sugarcane produce in time on account of various factors.
Another agriculturist Harshad Prabhudessai from Netravali appealed the government for immediate payment to the sugarcane cultivators as was otherwise done in the earlier years.
“Earlier the farmers would get part payment, within a period of fifteen days from the day of supply of sugarcane produce. However, it has been over three months now, and the farmers are still waiting for their payment and this has put the sugarcane farmers into quandary,” informed Prabhudessai.
