MAHOTTARI: Farmers in Mahottari district have lost interest in cultivating sugarcane owing to hassles they faced with the non-payment for their produce.
Sugar mills in the district have not paid the sugarcane farmers on time though the farmers spent their labor and investment in the production.
The sugarcane was cultivated as a major cash crop in some 18,000 bighas of land as recent as 20 years back.
The cultivation, however, declined sharply reaching the production only in 7,000 bighas of land this year.
Last year, this cash crop was grown in 11,000 bighas of land.
Currently, the second part of cultivation has been continued in 4,500 bighas of land.
After the harvest of the second part of sugarcane, the land is prepared for other crops.
With the present trend, the continuity of sugarcane farming will decline, according to Chairperson of Sugarcane Production Farmers in the district, Naresh Singh Kushwaha.
As the sugar mills do not pay on time, they are compelled to reduce its cultivation, Kushwaha said.
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