Fair Remuneration Price for Sugarcane

Fair Remuneration Price for Sugarcane

News: The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs has hiked Fair and Remunerative Price (FRP) of sugarcane for sugar season 2022-23 (October - September) by Rs 15 per quintal.

How are the prices determined?
• The Prices of Sugarcane are determined by the Central Government and the State Governments.
• The Central Government announces Fair and Remunerative Prices which are determined on the recommendation of the Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices (CACP) and announced by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA). CCEA is chaired by the Prime Minister of India.
• The FRP is based on the Rangarajan Committee report on reorganizing the sugarcane industry.
• The state government announces State advised prices (SAP).
• The SAP is announced by governments of key sugar producing states and SAP is generally higher than FRP.

Optimal Conditions for Sugarcane cultivation
Hot and humid climate
Temp - 21 to 27 Degree Celcius
Rainfall - 75 to 100 cm
Soil type - sandy loam to clay loam (should be well drained)
Top producing state - UP>Maharastra>Karn ataka

Reasons why Government is pushing for Sugar production
• The government wants to reduce its Import Bill on Crude Oil by cutting oil imports and blending ethanol with Petrol under the Ethanol Blended with Petrol programme.
• To reduce pollution & to make India self-reliant in petroleum sector, Government is encouraging sugar mills to divert excess sugarcane to ethanol which is blended with petrol, which not only serves as a green fuel but also saves foreign exchange on account of crude oil import.
• The government has fixed a target of 10% blending of fuel grade ethanol with petrol by 2022 & 20% blending by 2025.