Farmer organisations Shetkari Sanghatna and the Swabhimani Shetkari Sanghatna are up in arms over the delay in announcing the first payment instalment for Sugarcane by sugar factories in the state. Normally, the sugar factories announce the first instalment before starting of the actual crushing. This is done mainly to ensure supply of adequate and quality Sugarcane. This year, there is excess production of Sugarcane and many factories have not yet announced...

The Uttar Pradesh government is expected to soon announce the price at which mills in the state will have to buy Sugarcane from farmers. Having received a record Rs 260 per quintal for Sugarcane last season, farmers are insisting on a similar payout this season. The figure will be keenly watched because high raw material costs can substantially reduce profitability of companies in a season of bumper sugar production and low...

State-owned trading firm MMTC Ltd, the Indian Farmers Fertiliser Cooperative (Iffco) and the conglomerate Bharti Enterprises plan to join the growing number of Indian entities engaged in commercial farming in Africa. Cheap land and labour costs in Africa are attracting a number of Indian firms with interest in agriculture. A large number of people in East African countries such as Kenya work in the cultivation of tea, coffee, corn, vegetables, Sugarcane,...

The government on Wednesday hiked the sugar production estimate for the 2010-11 marketing year (October-September) to 24.5 million tonnes (mt) from 23 mt earlier. "This will be the best year in terms of sugar production and productivity... The production this year will be in the range of 24-24.5 million tonnes," food, PDS and civil supplies minister Sharad Pawar said. The current government estimate is virtually on par with that of the...

Commissioner of cane development and sugar director A K Monnappa regretted that the benefits of research in agriculture sector were not reaching the farmers adequately though there have been rise in research activities in recent years. Inaugurating the four-day training programme on improved cultivation of Sugarcane and sugar beet for the cane development staff of sugar factories in north Karnataka held at the University of Agricultural Sciences in Dharwad on Tuesday,...