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Govt mills cannot pay farmers’ dues as sugar unsold

Quamrul Islam Rubaiyat, Thakurgaon
Around 8,873 tonnes of sugar worth about Tk 48.80 crore produced by government-run Thakurgaon and Panchagarh sugar mills has remained unsold as their selling price is higher than that of private sugar factories and refineries.
Consequently, hundreds of farmers who had supplied sugarcane to the mills during the recently ended crushing season are yet to get their dues.
Thakurgaon Sugar Mills Ltd owes Tk 1.5 core to 500 farmers while Panchagarh Sugar Mills Ltd owes about Tk 3 crore 50 lakh to 2,500 farmers.
The farmers are regularly approaching the mill authorities for their dues, but they have to return either empty-handed or with small amounts as partial payment.
The situation may discourage farmers to grow sugarcane in the coming season.
"I cultivated sugarcane on 10-bigha (a bigha = .3306 acres) of land and supplied 58 tonnes of sugarcane to Thakurgaon Sugar Mills. But I am yet to get my dues despite coming to the mill several times. My family plan had to be changed due to the situation, ” said Md Habibur Rahman, 45, a sugarcane grower of Nargoon village in Thakurgoan Sadarupazila.
Yasin Ali, 40, of Maligaon village in Atwary upazila in Panchagarh district, said he cultivated sugarcane on 15-bigha of land and supplied 70 tonnes of sugarcane to Panchagarh Sugar Mills but still he has dues of Tk50,000.
"I cannot manage the expenditure of the ongoing boro cultivation due to the delay in payment," he said.
Thakurgaon Sugar Mills produced about 4,781 tonnes of sugar by crushing 79,480 tonnes of sugarcanes in 67 days of operation period starting on December 2 last year, said Managing Director (MD) Sibendranath Sarcar.
Panchagarh Sugar Mills produced 4,363 tonnes of sugar by crushing77,387 tonnes of sugarcane in 86 days from December 2.
Considering the production cost and the
value of produced sugar, Thakurgaon Sugar Mills Ltd incurred loss of Tk 15 crore and Panchagarh Sugar Mills Ltd Tk 16 crore in the last crushing season, said MDs of the two sugar mills.
Of the total production, only 71 tonnes of sugar of Thakurgaon Sugar Mills and 200 tonnes of Panchagarh Sugar Mills have been sold, mill sources said.
"We are yet to draw sugar from state-owned sugar mills as the private companies are selling a kg of sugar at Tk 53 while the rate of state owned mills isTk 55," said Yakub Ali, a sugar dealer of Thakurgaon.
Blaming government policy for the situation, MD of Thakurgaon Sugar Mills Ltd Sibendranath Sarcar said the private companies who import raw sugar set their prices lower than the price fixed by state-own mills.
He demanded increasing the import duty on raw sugar to save the state-owned sugar mills as livelihood of thousands of families is related with it.
The authorities of the losing mills have urged the higher authorities to arrange sufficient funds to enable them to pay off the arrear dues of the sugarcane growers, he said.
Farmers are losing interest to cultivate sugarcane as they have to face hassles to get their dues for supplying sugarcanes to the mills every year, said Yunus Ali, president of Thakurgaon Sugarcane Growers' Association.
" Sugar mill workers and employees suffer much as the mill authorities fail to pay salary in time when sugar remains unsold. The government should control the market price of sugar so that the private mill owners cannot take undue advantage by fixing lower rates," said Jobidur Rahman, president of Thalurgaon Sugar Mills Workers and Employees Union.
Fifteen state-owned sugar mills in the country produced 69,307 tonnes of sugar by crushing 10 lakh 47 thousand 559 tonnes of sugarcane this year while last year they produced 93,577 tonnes of sugar by crushing 14 lakh 79 thousand 881 tonnes of sugarcane.