Parliamentary Standing Committee on Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, headed by senior DMK MP Kanimozhi Karunanidhi, has flagged about 32 times increase, compared to last financial year, in the sugarcane arrears owed to farmers across the country. Farmers’ organisations have demanded Union Government’s intervention to claim their dues as the next crop season is about to begin now.
A report on the Demands for Grants of the Union Department of Food and Public Distribution, tabled in both the Houses during the ongoing budget session, noted that the Department intimated the panel that that total amount of cane price arrears in the country as on February 16, 2026 is ₹16,087 crore. The sugarcane arrears on the same period in 2024-25 was ₹497 crore and in 2023-24, it was ₹34 crore. In 2025-26, the amount payable to farmers was ₹79,818 crore, in which ₹63,731 crore has been paid and the remaining amount to be paid is ₹16,087 crore (79.85%), according to the information provided in the report.
Call for enhanced coordination between farmers and food processors
In Uttar Pradesh, the arrears rose from ₹24 crore in 2023-24 to ₹321 crore in 2024-25 and ₹3,287 crore in 2025-26, an increase of more than ten times. In Maharashtra, it was ₹2 crore, ₹123 crore and ₹4,252 crore in 2023-24, 2024-25 and 2025-26 respectively. Karnataka has the highest arrears. In the last two financial years, the arrears was zero and on February 16 this year, the arrears is ₹4,956 crore. In Gujarat, the arrears increased from ₹5 crore to ₹1,402 crore. In Tamil Nadu, the amount due to farmers is ₹203 crore and in Bihar it is ₹212 crore. Haryana owes ₹373 crore and Punjab’s arrears is ₹535 crore. Madhya Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Telangana owe ₹366 crore, ₹235 crore and ₹152 crore to sugarcane farmers.
