This story is from November 15, 2018

Sugarcane farmer strength waning over unpaid dues, poor government support

Sugarcane farmer strength waning over unpaid dues, poor government support
Sugarcane crops in the field.
PONDA: With very little encouragement from the government and plenty of hurdles along the way, sugarcane farmers in the state are slowly giving up the trade and opting to cultivate other crops.
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“Farmers cultivating sugarcane do not get payments on time for cane supplied to the Sanjivani Sahakari Sakhar Karkhana—neither from the factory nor the government. This is the reason why they are giving up cane cultivation,” said Rajendra Desai, president of the Sugarcane Farmers’ Association of Goa on Monday.

Till the crushing season of 2016-17, 1,047 farmers cultivated cane, but the number dropped to 956 in 2017-18, Desai said. The number could still come down during the 2018-19 season.
The state-run sugar factory at Dharbandora pays Rs 1,200 per tonne of cane to farmers and the government pays a support price of Rs 1,800 per tonne. Desai said the amounts are paid separately. “We demand that both the amounts be paid together. Also, the government has not yet declared the fresh rate of cane and the association has written to the government to raise the rate to Rs 4,000 per tonne combined,” Desai said.
Repeated destruction of crop by wild boars and monkeys, despite solar fencing and other arrangements, deter farmers from cultivating cane, said Venkatesh Desai from Bimbal, Collem, in Dharbandora taluka.

The Collem farmer has demanded that the government have some arrangements to control animals. He said shooting is not useful as monkeys come in herds of over 50-60.
Annoyed with these problems, Harshvardhan Behare, another farmer from Guleli-Sattari. has started cultivating cashew instead.
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