This decision will benefit five crore sugarcane farmers and their dependents, as well as five lakh workers, the government said

In a move that is in line with the government's commitment to the farm sector, an assistance of about Rs. 3,500 crore for sugarcane farmers was approved by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday.

The payment, which will be made on behalf of sugar mills for the purchase of sugarcane, will be credited directly into the farmers' accounts.

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," said an official statement by the Ministry of Consumer Afairs, Food & Public Distribution. This will enable payment of dues of the sugarcane farmers.

The government will spend about Rs. 3,500 crore for this purpose, and this assistance would be directly credited into farmers’ accounts on behalf of sugar mills against cane price dues. Any subsequent balance would be credited to the mill’s account.

According to the ministry, this 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 upto 60 LMT of sugar limited to Maximum Admissible Export Quota (MAEQ) allocated to sugar mills for sugar season 2020-21

There are close to five crore sugarcane farmers and their dependents in the country. Additionally, there are about five lakh workers employed in the sugar mills and ancillary activities, and their livelihood depends on the sugar industry, the statement pointed out.

This decision will benefit the five crore sugarcane farmers and their dependents, as well as the five lakh workers employed in the sugar mills and related ancillary activities.