BARA, JANUARY 22

Farmers have incurred heavy loss with the cash crop sugarcane wilting in Bara.

Locals and farmers are now compelled burn the wilted plants to warm themselves in the freezing cold.

Sugarcane farmers had grown COG0238 species of sugarcane recommended by Reliance Sugar Mill located at Shreepur, Ward No 16 of Kalaiya Sub-metropolitan City, Bara.

To the huge surprise and disappointment of farmers, sugarcane plants wilted before harvest time.

Farmers said minor wilting problem was detected in sugarcane in the months of August and September. However, the problem grew and became fatal as all sugarcane plants wilted and died eventually.

The incident has left the farmers worried and helpless.

Local farmer Birendra Das complained that the sugar mill had forced them to use COG2038 species of sugarcane.

According to Das, the plants had grown well.

But, sugarcanes planted in two bigha and wilted due to an unknown reason.

'The rice mill has to compensate for the loss as we had planted sugarcane recommended by the mill,' bemoaned Das.

Following the wilting of sugarcanes, locals and farmers are burning the wilted plants to avoid extreme cold.

The farmers had staged protest demanding compensation from the sugar mill. 'Farmers had staged the protest in front of the sugar mill in Kalaiya, but to no avail', said Sugarcane Farmers' Association Bara Secretary Gorakh Yadav.

A meeting was held with mill owners at the initiative of Bara CDO Krishna Prasad Katwal.

During the meeting, mill proprietor Raj Kumar Agrawal had surrendered ,saying that he could not pay compensation.

The meeting had decided to collect details of the damage and take the initiative to demand compensation from the government.

A version of this article appears in the print on January 23, 2023, of The Himalayan Times.