Uttar Pradesh hikes sugarcane floor price ahead of crucial vote

NEW DELHI: Uttar Pradesh, India’s biggest cane-producing state, has raised the price sugar mills must pay for the new crop by 9 per cent, a state government official said on Friday, as part of efforts to woo farmers ahead of a state assembly election early next year.
Uttar Pradesh raised the cane price to Rs 305 per 100 kg for the crop year that began last month, up from Rs 280 in the previous year, the state official, who declined to be named because he isn’t authorised to speak with media, told Reuters by telephone.

The federal government kept the 2016/17 cane floor price unchanged at Rs. 230 per 100 kg.

Although the federal government fixes the cane price every year, some state governments such as Uttar Pradesh invariably raise the rate to court farmers, which is a large voting bloc.

In the 2014 general election Modi swept Uttar Pradesh, winning 73 of 80 seats with rural voters swayed by a promise to raise farmers’ income along with religious tensions that favoured his Hindu nationalist party.
 

SOURCE: ECONOMIC TIMES