By IANS,
New Delhi: The cabinet Thursday okayed a hike in the sugarcane price that mills are required to pay to farmers to Rs.210 per quintal – a rise of Rs.40 – for the year starting October 2013.
The price is to be linked to basic recovery rate of 9.5 percent, subject to a premium of Rs.2.21 per quintal for every 0.1 percentage point increase in recovery above that level, according to a cabinet decision Thursday.
The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) approved the proposal of the food ministry, which was in line with the recommendation of the Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices (CACP) suggesting Rs.40 increase in the fair and remunerative price (FRP) at Rs.210 a quintal for 2013-14.
Sudhir Panwar of Kisan Jagriti Manch welcomed the hike hike.
“The hike of more than 22 percent in the Fair and Remunerative (FRP) of sugarcane by the government is an acceptance of the corresponding hike in the input prices of sugarcane,” Panwar told IANS.
However, he pointed out that “due to faulty method of sugarcane price fixation by CACP, the FRP is reduced as a notional price”.