Farmers in Sarlahi staged a protest in Hariwan Municipality on Saturday afternoon, demanding the government provide them with a subsidy amount of sugarcane sold last year and fix the minimum support price for this year.

Protesters rallied from Krishna Chowk to Indu Shankar Sugar Mills carrying sugarcane and converged in an assembly after returning.

The farmers demanded the government fix the minimum support price of sugarcane Rs750 per quintal for this season.

The minimum support price is the government-guaranteed price for farmers which is set annually and includes transportation costs, cost of production and profit.

In January last year, the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development determined the support price of sugarcane at Rs610 per quintal.

Similarly, they have demanded the government provide the remaining subsidy amount. Farmers said they have received only Rs21 out of Rs70 per quintal subsidy announced by the government.

Kapil Muni Mainali, president of the Federation of Sugarcane Producers Association, says that this season's sugarcane price should be Rs750 per quintal given the increase in sugar price and production cost.

“The market price of sugar has increased by almost 40 percent compared to last year and the production cost has also gone up. Accordingly, we have demanded the minimum support price should be fixed at Rs750 per quintal,” he said. “We are forced to protest as neither the industrialists nor the government want to pay the right price for the produce.”

Raj Kumar Upreti, president of Millgate Sugarcane Producers Committee, accused the government of acting against farmers by not releasing the subsidy amount.

Upreti said the government offered the price of sugarcane at Rs 565 at a meeting held at the Ministry of Agriculture on Monday, adding they rejected the proposal outright.

The crushing season began in mid-November, but farmers are still waiting for the government to publish the floor price.

In 2018, the government started the practice of fixing the floor price of sugarcane in a bid to end constant conflict between sugarcane farmers and sugar producers. It had become a tradition for sugarcane growers and sugar mills to engage in a bitter dispute over the floor price during harvest time every year.

Before the government began setting the floor price, sugarcane prices in Nepal were normally based on the rates paid by Indian mills to their farmers.