Sarlahi. Payment for cash crop sugarcane sold on credit has always been a noose for the farmers here.

The farmers who sold sugarcane to the industry last season are in trouble as they have not received the money for six months. The Annapurna Sugar Industry in Dhankaul Rural Municipality-2 is yet to pay the farmers for the purchase of sugarcane last season.

Kailash Paswan, a resident of Dhankaul Rural Municipality-3, said that he has received only a partial amount of 300 quintals of sugarcane given to the industry. He has planted sugarcane in 50 katthas of land. Out of this, he has taken 20 katthas of sugarcane and the rest on contract. He is in a hurry to pay the contract on time if he gets the money for the sale of sugarcane. He expressed concern that if the contract amount is not paid on time, he will have to pay the interest to the moneylender.

“All the expenses of the household should be met with the money received from the farming,” he said, “The upbringing of the children, education, festivals, all have to be avoided with the money that comes from the sale of sugarcane.” But every year, the industry has been harassing the farmers by showing false hopes. Kailash, who married off his daughter some time ago, lamented that he had to take a loan from the moneylender at interest after the industry did not give him money to meet his needs.

He is yet to receive more than Rs 56,000 from the industry. He said that they are disappointed with the sugarcane farming as the amount to be received is not finalized. He said that he sold 400 quintals of sugarcane in cash after remembering the pain given by the industry at the time of giving money. In cash, the middlemen buy it at a lower price of Rs 35 to 40 and sell it to the industry in their name. Due to this, the money received by the farmers as subsidy is also being misused.

For Panchu Sahni, a resident of Dhankaul-2, farming is also his only source of income. He also cultivates sugarcane on the contracted land and sells it to the industry. However, he complains that the industry, which was initially operated to provide convenience to the locals, has repeatedly cheated him. The industry has not yet paid him for the sugarcane he sold in 2074 BS. At the same time, the industry collapsed.

He says that the farmers are facing problems after the first industrialists sold the industry. “If the old owner had to pay the price till 2074 BS, he did not give it to them because he did not get the details later,” he said. He said that after that, he sold sugarcane to the Indushankar Sugar Mill in Rautahat and Hariban of Sarlahi. This year, the industry did not come after the industry agreed not to keep the fork in the millgate area.

He said that after this, they were forced to give sugarcane to Annapurna. He is yet to receive the payment for about 500 quintals of sugarcane given this time. He complained that Annapurna has harassed him when he paid the sugarcane within 15 days of the sale of sugarcane. The Annapurna Sugar Industry had purchased 9,93,752.67 quintals of sugarcane from 3,186 farmers in the season 2082÷83.

Out of the 61 crore 61 lakh 27 thousand 655 sugarcane purchases, the industry is yet to pay the farmers around Rs 22 crore. After the complaint of the farmers, an investigation committee formed under the chairmanship of Assistant Chief District Officer Hom Prasad Ghimire had revealed that the farmers are yet to receive payment of Rs 220 million.

On the other hand, the industry administration has claimed that it is paying the farmers daily. Ramesh Srivastava, the administrative head of the industry, admitted that the payment to the farmers is yet to be completed and he said that the plan is to complete it by the end of October. He said that the industry is working to make the payment to the farmers before Dashain. However, he does not have data on how much of the remaining amount has been deposited in the farmers’ accounts so far.

The police had arrested Shailendra Gupta, the owner of the mill, following a complaint by the farmers for not getting the payment of sugarcane. Gupta, who was arrested on the basis of an arrest warrant issued by the District Court, Sarlahi, was released on the condition that he would sell sugar worth Rs 11 crore in the factory and deposit the remaining amount in the farmers’ account by taking a loan from the bank. Shyam Babu Raya, president of the Nepal Sugarcane Producers Farmers’ Federation, said that the industrialists said that they would sell the remaining sugar in the mill and take loan from the bank and pay the money to the farmers.

Chairman Rai said that they have facilitated the matter accordingly. They expressed doubt that the local sugarcane farmers will fulfill the conditions made by the industrialists. They said that they are doubtful that they will get the money during the festival season as the industry has not done so far. They demand that the state should ensure the stability of the market and fair price of the crops produced by the farmers by combining blood and sweat.

The farmers have complained that they are facing problems in managing their daily household expenses and managing fertilizers and workers as they have not received money even after more than six months of selling sugarcane. Another farmer, Dhiru Verma, said that the farmers are in a dilapidated condition as the industry does not give them the money they sell with blood and sweat. Naplakantha Devkota, a resident of Bagmati Municipality-11 in Sarlahi, said that the country cannot be developed by killing the farmers.