EP Bureau
Uttar Pradesh government today announced to increase the sugarcane price by Rs 30 to Rs 400 per quintal for early maturing variety of the crop.
This will facilitate an additional income of Rs 3,000 crore to the state sugarcane farmers in the current crushing season 2025-26.
Meanwhile, the cane State Advised Price (SAP) for the common variety has also been hiked from Rs 360 to Rs 390 per quintal.
Sugarcane crop is cultivated by more than 4.5 million farmers in UP.
UP sugarcane development minister Laxmi Narayan Chaudhary said sugarcane farmers are the backbone of UP’s economy.
Since 2017, UP has paid more than Rs 2.9 trillion to cane farmers. This is Rs 1.42 trillion more than the Rs 1.47 trillion disbursed during the previous Samajwadi Party (SP) and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) regimes between 2007 and 2017.
Currently, 122 sugar mills – second highest in India after Maharashtra – are functional in UP.
The minister claimed owing to the Yogi Adityanath government’s transparent governance and investor-friendly policies, UP has attracted Rs 12,000 crore in new investments in the sugar industry.
Over the past eight years, 4 new sugar mills have been established; six closed mills have been revived; and 42 have expanded their crushing capacity, which is equivalent to adding eight new large mills.
Moreover, compressed biogas (CBG) plants have been set up in two sugar mills, promoting the production of alternative energy within the sector.
Under the ‘Smart Sugarcane Farmer’ system, all processes related to cane cultivation, including acreage registration, calendaring, and slip issuance, have been fully digitised to weed out the middlemen from the entire process.
UP has also achieved a remarkable growth in ethanol production. UP ethanol production has risen from 410 million litres (ML) to 1,820 ML, while the number of distilleries has increased from 61 to 97.
The state cane acreage has expanded from 2 million hectares (MH) to 2.951 MH, making UP the top state in the country for both sugarcane cultivation and ethanol output.
The UP sugarcane prices had remained stuck at Rs 370 per quintal for two years, while cultivation costs climbed up.