A cabinet meeting headed by Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray has decided to provide mills various concessions and grants for transportation of sugarcane, to overcome the financial loss on account of a reduction in the extract rate.

The sugarcane crushing season in Maharashtra has almost ended and sugarcane cutters have returned to their villages. But as of now about 90 lakh tonnes of sugarcane still stands in the fields. The sugar industry has been demanding help from the State government to crush excess sugarcane.

Many sugar mills have expressed their inability to transport and crush the sugarcane standing in the fields for months now.  

In the absence of sugarcane cutters, the National Federation of Cooperative Sugar Factories Ltd (NFCSF) has decided to request mills in other States to provide harvesters. However, farmers in Marathwada region are burning sugarcane so that cane cutters can easily enter the field to cut the cane. This is resulting in reduction of sugarcane weight and extract.

Maharashtra is faced with a sugarcane glut on account of a rise in per hectare production. This production per hectare crossed 125 tonnes per acre this season. Last month a delegation of private sugar mill operators recently held a meeting with the Nationalist Congress Party President Sharad Pawar and Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar. The delegation had demanded that the government provide financial aid to mills to cover transportation and other expenses incurred due to excess sugarcane.

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