Sugarcane farmers in the southern part of Sarlahi district are left disgruntled once again after sugar mills in the region shut cane crushing operations without paying the farmers.

Out of three sugar mills in the region, two have not paid a single penny to cane supplying farmers despite crushing canes while one mill is disbursing payment partially in line with its schedule.

Annapurna Sugar Mill at Dhankaul and Mahalaxmi Sugar Mill at Godaita put down their shutters on April 19 after crushing more than 200,000 tonnes. They have not paid the farmers yet.

Indu Shankar Sugar Mill shut operations on Monday after crushing 351,400 tonnes of sugar cane but has only paid Rs420 million out of Rs1.65 billion in dues.

According to sugarcane farmer Mukesh Singh of Bara Udhoran, Annapurna Sugar Mill has defaulted on payments since last year.

“I have supplied 280 tonnes to the mill in two years but have not received a single rupee in return,” Singh said. “We are facing difficulties running our houses but who will understand our plight?”

The mill operators and farmers had entered into an agreement in January at Bardibas where the operators had agreed to pay the farmers within 45 days of purchase. But the operators have not paid the farmers even after the end of crushing season, irking the farmers.

Nepal Sugarcane Producers’ Federation Chairman Kapilmuni Mainali accused the sugar mill owners of unilaterally breaching the agreement signed prior to crushing the canes and delaying payment citing multiple problems.

The sugar mills owners said that they are unable to pay the farmers before selling the sugar they have produced.

“The mills are reluctant to clear the monies owed to sugarcane farmers for their crops,” said Mainali adding that the sugar factories still owed Rs8 billion to farmers for this season’s harvest.

Last September, bowing to complaints from sugar mills that they were being priced out of the market by cheap imports, the government had imposed an import quota of 100,000 tonnes annually. The policy also allowed mills to increase the price of sugar from Rs60 to Rs90 per kg and was to last till mid-April. But the government has extended the sugar import restriction till mid-July.

According to the Nepal Sugar Mills Association, domestic sugar production is expected to reach 190,500 tonnes during this sugarcane crushing season that usually ends in mid-May. With last year’s unsold stocks, they will have 267,042 tonnes of sugar compared to the country’s annual sugar requirement of 250,000 tonnes.