Nawalparasi, January 10:

Sugarcane farmers, demanding fair price of sugar, have obstructed for indefinite period the road section of Bardaghat on the Mahendra Highway.

They obstructed the traffic to create pressure in fixing the new price early. At a meeting held at the Nawalparasi district administration office on Thursday, the Sugarcane Producers Peasants Committee and sugar mill owner had agreed on advance payment till the new price of sugarcane is fixed. The agreement provided arrangement of advance payment of Rs 150 a quintal at the mill gate, Rs 137 at the centre and Rs 149 at Nawalpur area.

However, the farmers saying that the agreement was unfair formed a price determination agitation committee under Param Hansa Chaturbedi as their coordinator. The agitating farmers carried the sugarcane plants. They claimed that the agitation will

continue till their demands were met.

“The price should be fixed at the central level,” coordinator Chaturbedi said, adding that the price at the central level was Rs 205 per quintal. The farmers said that the price fixed at the district was not fair. “The recent price is not enough for buying fertilizer and seeds,” spokesperson Prakash Kunwar, said.

Nawalparasi, which is considered fertile land for sugarcane production, harvests three million quintals of sugarcane annually. Chief district officer of Nawalparasi Govinda Adhikari said the price of sugarcane was fixed at the initiative of the administration and it can not be reviewed immediately.

Nawalparasi has Lumbini, Bagmati Khadsari and Indra sugar mill which purchase a huge amount of sugarcane from farmers. All these sugar mills have remained shut due

to the intervention of

the farmers, recently.