2011 cane forecast price hardly a
windfall
[posted 9 April 2011, 1200]
The cane forecast price of $52.20 per
tonne for the 2011 season announced by the FSC is hardly likely to boost the
enthusiasm of farmers who have experienced three bad seasons
(2008,2009,2010) with losses running into hundreds of millions.
Farmers saw almost half their cane wasted
due to shocking levels of mill inefficiency last year. The TCTS has risen
from 10 in 2006 to 13.8 in 2010 signifying wastage of almost 4 tonnes of
cane for every tonne of sugar made.
Their claim for compensation has been
ignored. It is largely because farmers have been sidelined from the
industry, that our cane and sugar production have suffered a sharp decline.
As in the past three seasons, FSC is
reassuring farmers that the mills will run efficiently this season and they
should begin preparations for the harvest.
But farmers interviewed have said that
they would rather wait and see. “We have been let down badly in the past
three years, suffering huge losses. Our backs are broken,” a Ba farmer
complained.
“We will be unable to engage labour from
outside unless we receive financial assistance,” he said. Like many others,
he depends on hired cane cutters brought in from villages far away to help
with harvesting.
Indeed, farmers have little left with
which to begin preparations for the harvest this season. The price for the
2010 season was the lowest they have received in a long time. So, many of
them will simply not have the financial means to equip themselves to begin
the harvest.
Furthermore, farmers are aware that the
$3.74 per tonne advanced in 2009 to bring the total payment to $60.33 per
tonne (still short of the $61.17 per tonne declared forecast price for 2010)
will be deducted from this year’s proceeds. So, in fact, he will end up
receiving less than what is being projected.
All in all, FSC needs to do a lot better
to rebuild confidence among the farmers. We hope that its promise of
efficient milling operations will, at least, hold true this time.
MP Chaudhry |