Sugarcane farming goes down

Mahottari, Aug. 23: Sugarcane farming has decreased by almost 40 per cent in Mahottari district in the current fiscal year, according to a district-level survey carried out by the Everest Sugar Mill. Farming of the sugarcane, a lucrative cash crop, is being done only in 10,000 bigha of farms against 16,000 bigha of the last fiscal year, General Manager of Everest Sugar Mill Yugal Kishor Chaurasiya said.
Gradual decrease in the price of sugarcane and delayed payments from the sugar mills’ to the farmers have forced the farmers to quit the sugarcane farming, Chairman of Federation of Sugarcane Producers’ Kapil Muni Mainali. Mainali added that the farmers have switched to paddy and maize production and vegetable farming from the sugarcane farming in the recent days.