October 12: Sugarcane farmers will be receiving subsidised amount from the government in their own bank accounts at a time when sugar mills have decided not to make payments to sugarcane farmers unless the stocks are cleared. As per the recommendation of the Ministry of Agriculture, the government has decided to deposit Rs 65.28 per quintal as a subsidy in the farmers’ bank accounts.

With the implementation of the ‘Work Procedure on Subsidy to Sugarcane Farmers-2075’, the sugarcane farmers will get the subsidy directly in their bank account.

According to Tej Bahadur Subedi, spokesperson as well as joint secretary at the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development, the finance ministry has also issued payments to be deposited to the farmers’ account.

So far, under-secretary at the Ministry of Agriculture, Bhoj Raj Sapkota, said that the ministry has collected a list of 12 sugar mills including Mahakali, Bhageshwor, Annapurana, Indushankar, Bagmati Khadsari, Lumbini sugar mills operating in Nepal. According to him, the subsidy to the farmers will be provided through these mills.

The subsidised amount will be delivered to the Financial Comptroller General’s Office in three days by the Ministry of Agriculture, said Subedi. The amount will be deposited to the farmers’ account by forming a payment committee in collaboration with the Assistant Chief District Officer of the districts producing sugarcane. The committee will prepare and update the record of the sugar mills including their production capacity, details of production and the farmers involved. Afterwards, the committee will provide suggestion for the subsidy.

The finance ministry has issued a circular to the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development for depositing the amount directly to the famers' account. And accordingly, the ministry had also sent data of those 12 sugar mills to the finance ministry, said Subedi. At the beginning, the subsidy will be provided on the basis of the obtained information.   

The work procedure for depositing the subsidy directly in the farmers’ bank accounts was drafted after receiving complaints of misuse of VAT return facility provided by the sugar mills which was intended to benefit the farmers.

According to finance ministry’s spokesperson Chandra Kala Poudel, the work procedure has a provision of handing over the subsidy amount to the payment committees of all those districts producing sugarcane. The details mentioned in the work procedure should be made available to the payment committees fortnightly.