Cabinet approves Rs 3,500cr subsidy for sugarcane farmers
By TIOL News Service
NEW DELHI, DEC 16, 2020: THE Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) approved assistance of about Rs 3,500 crore for sugarcane farmers today.
"Farmers sell their sugarcane to the sugar mills, however the farmers are not getting their dues from the sugar mill owners as they have surplus sugar stock. To address this concern, the government is facilitating the evacuation of surplus sugar stock," the CCEA said. .
The subsidy aims at covering expenses on marketing costs including handling, upgrading and other processing costs and costs of international and internal transport and freight charges on export of up to 60 lakh tonnes of sugar limited to Maximum Admissible Export Quota (MAEQ) allocated to sugar mills for sugar season 2020-21.
The government will incur about Rs 3,500 crore for this purpose which will be directly credited into farmers' accounts on behalf of sugar mills against cane price dues and subsequent balance, if any, would be credited to the mill's account.
The scheme will benefit close to five crore sugarcane farmers and their dependents, as well as five lakh workers employed by sugar mills and related ancillary activities.
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