Farmers demand higher MSP by staging protest in Lucknow

Farmers in Lucknow staged a massive protest against the state government's decision not to raise the minimum support price (MSP) of sugarcane on Wednesday. 

Apart from the state advised price (SAP) of sugarcane, farmers also protested against non-payment of cane dues by burning sugarcane on December 11 in the UP capital.

India's top sugar producer Uttar Pradesh has not changed the state-advised price (SAP) kept for the common variety of sugarcane at Rs 315 per quintal for the current 2019-20 crushing season.

Nearly four million farmers do sugarcane farming in UP and the composite annual sugar economy is estimated at more than Rs 40,000 crore, spanning sugar, power generation, and ethanol.

The SAP for early cane variety has been kept unchanged at Rs 325 per quintal and unsuitable cane varieties have also been held at Rs 310 per quintal.

Yogi Adityanath Government has not changed sugarcane prices for the second consecutive year now. They hiked the price for the common variety by Rs 10 per quintal in their first year in office, during the 2017-18 crushing season.

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Farmers cited a hike in farm input costs, such as diesel, labor wages, and fertilizers and demanded the cane price be increased to more than Rs 400 per quintal. However, the protest march was stopped halfway to the state Assembly (Vidhan Sabha) after the administrative officials held talks with the leaders of the farmers union and agreed to look into their problems and take action.

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Vaibhav Mishra, the Additional District Magistrate (ADM) told a news website that "Their protest was regarding an increase in the prices and two other demands for which they were marching towards the Vidhan Sabha. We held talks with them, following which they relented and agreed to stop the march mid-way.”

Slogans like “Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan'' and ''Bhartiya Kisan Union Zindabad'' were raised by the framers during the march. The Bhartiya Kisan Union has also announced that they will carry out protests in different parts of the state if their demands are not met.

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(With inputs from Agencies)