By Our Correspondent
Sarlahi, Aug. 8: Shashi Bhushan Singh of Bishnu Rural Municipality-2, in Bahadurpur, in Sarlahi sold sugarcane to Annapurna Sugar Industry in Dhankaul for three consecutive years.
He struggled to get the payment for the sugarcane he sold for three years in a row.
“We, the three brothers, had to collect Rs. 1.2 million for the last three years. When we go to the industry to ask for payment, we never meet the industrialist,” said Singh. “We have not received the full amount yet. It has become difficult to support our households because of this.”

Farmers have been in debt as sugarcane mills have failed to pay them and are making their ends meet by borrowing money.
“Farm has to be sold to repay the loan. The government has not been able to take any action against the industrialists who are meting out injustice to the farmers. We farmers have become helpless,” Singh said.
Demanding payment for the sugarcane sold to the industrialists, the farmers came to the district headquarters Malangwa to protest and handed over a memorandum to the Chief District Officer.
One such farmer Ram Binaya Raya of Dhankaul said that he has started planting other crops as an alternative to sugarcane because of the non-payment issue.

“Sugarcane is called a cash crop, but is has failed to earn any cash for three or four years. After not getting money for two years in a row, I have switched to cultivating vegetables and other crops,” he said.
Kapil Muni Mainali, President of the Nepal Sugarcane Producer Association, said that farmers in all the districts of the Terai where sugarcane is cultivated are facing problems of non-payment.

“Out of 14 sugar mills across the country, Annapurna in Sarlahi and Shee Ram Sugar Mill in Rautahat could not be operated last year as it couldn’t pay the dues they owe to the farmers,” said Mainali.
There are three sugar factories each in Sarlahi and Nawalparasi, two each in Rautahat and Kanchanpur and one each in Mahottari, Morang, Siraha and Bara.

Even the government has not yet provided last year’s subsidy to all farmers. “Farmers have become victims not only from the industrialists but also from the government,” said Mainali.
According to the latest survey, sugarcane is cultivated on an average of 60,000 hectares of land in the Terai belt.