Sugarcane ryots prefer private factories

CHITTOOR: It is intriguing to note that farmers in the district are preferring private sugar factories to the government run cooperative sugar factories for selling their produce. There are four private sugar factories- Vani (KBC), Prudential, Mayuri and Sagar and two government controlled cooperative factories- at Chittoor and Gajulamandyam.The sugarcane crushing by six sugar factories in 201011 reveal that Chittoor Cooperative Factory and SV Cooperative Sugar Factory together recorded a crushing of 2.39 lakh metric tonnes, which is less than the sugarcane crushed i.e 3.57 lakh tonne by the Prudential Sugar Factory.Enquiries revealed that the delay on the part of the cooperative factories in making the payment for the sugarcane supplied and transport charges for carrying sugarcane from fields to the factory was the main reason for farmers preferring the private factories.Interestingly, though the private factories were offering comparatively less price for the sugarcane, their prompt payment was proving to be a plus point for them in attracting farmers.The private factories paid Rs 1,800 per tonne, while the coop sugar factories paid `1900 per tonne in 201011. Sources said that in 201011 Chittoor factory had to clear bills of Rs 7.87 crore and the SV cooperative factory about `18.92 cr to farmers.