Sugarcane growers have been forced to sell their crops to middlemen for lower prices as they are unable to transport them to the mills due to high transportation costs. A gasoline shortage has led to transport entrepreneurs hiking freight rates steeply. 

The floor price of sugarcane for this year has been fixed at Rs448 per quintal. However, cane farmers have been selling their harvests at Rs300 per quintal as these agents come to their homes and offer to pay cash. 

Many farmers who have not yet received full payment for the sugarcane they sold to factories in the past year are happy to get instant cash at their doorstep. 

Ram Singhasen Patel, a local farmer and general secretary of the Sanghia Samajbadi Forum, said middlemen had made things easier for farmers who are having a hard time sending their crops to the sugar mills due to the high freight rates. 

“Middlemen come to the doors of the farmers and pay them instantly. Currently, we are in the midst of the Madhes protest. As a farmer, we are obviously victims, and the middlemen are getting an opportunity to make profits,” he said.

However, farmers feel that selling sugarcane at Rs300 per quintal during this crisis period is a good deal. “Growers get cash at their homes, and they don’t have to transport their sugarcane to the mills and wait for a long time to get payment.”

Bijay Kant Jha, general manager of Indu Shankar Sugar Mills, said it was not a good idea to involve middlemen to buy sugarcane from farmers. 

“We have heard that some mills have been sending their people to the farmers’ homes to buy sugarcane at a cheaper rate,” he said. “It is not right to cheat farmers by paying them less than the floor price.” He added that his mill had not procured sugarcane from middlemen. 

Sugarcane is grown on more than 70,000 hectares in 17 districts. Sarlahi, Mahottari and Nawalparasi are the main producers of sugarcane in the country.