Ramesh Chand Panel Set Up on Sugarcane Farmers’ Issues

The Government of India has set up a committee headed by Prof. Ramesh Chand, a former Member of NITI Aayog, to go into the issues raised by sugarcane growers and to suggest what should be done about them. The committee was announced after representatives of sugarcane farmers from Karnataka and Maharashtra met the Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare and the Union Minister of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution.

What the committee will examine

• The demand for better remunerative returns for cane growers, judged against the cost of cultivation and other relevant factors.
• The demand to revise the ex-mill Minimum Selling Price (MSP) of sugar, seen against the cost of producing sugar, what mills realise in the market, and whether mills remain financially viable.
• The present arrangements for testing and reporting sugar recovery, and ways to make the verification of recovery transparent.
• Weighment practices for sugarcane at mills, including whether calibration, inspection and verification arrangements are adequate.
• Deductions made from the weight of mechanically harvested cane, the actual losses, if any, that mechanised harvesting causes, and what the present practice does to the cane price a farmer finally gets.

The committee may also take up any other related matter it finds necessary. It is to consult farmers' representatives, sugar mill associations, State Governments and such experts or organisations as it thinks fit, and submit a report with findings and specific recommendations as early as possible for the competent authority to consider.

Who heads it

Prof. Ramesh Chand is an agricultural economist and public policy expert. He was a Member of NITI Aayog from 2015 to 2026, and earlier served as Director of ICAR-NIAP (the National Institute of Agricultural Economics and Policy Research) and as a Member of the Fifteenth Finance Commission. His work covers agricultural development, farmers' issues, food security, agricultural markets and pricing policy.

Who else is on it

Why it matters

Cane pricing sits at the meeting point of two interests. Growers want a higher return for the cane they supply, while mills say the price at which they are allowed to sell sugar decides whether they can pay. By putting weighment, recovery testing and harvesting deductions on the same table as price, the committee is being asked to look at the full chain through which a farmer's cane becomes a farmer's payment. The inclusion of an officer dealing with legal metrology shows how much weight the question of correct weighing carries in the grievance.