This year the suger prices are very low and Sugar mills are reluctant to purchase all the sugar cane from farmers. Most farmers are facing difficulty in getting reasonable price for their crop. I was just reading about the Brazil visit of US president and the agreement they have signed for Ethanol as bio-fuel. Brazil is the world leader in Ethanol production from sugar cane juice. Cars in that country run on Ethanol (100% - 24% ethanol). Though in India there is policy of blending petrol with 5% ethanol, however, production is not enough to meet the demand. On the one hand nation is spending lots of money on imported fuel where as on the other hand farmers are having hard time to dispose of their crop at reasonable price. Why the sugar mills are not forced to manufacture ethanol when prices of sugar in international market are low? One wonders which lobby is acting against the interest of sugar cane farmers ?

Rajendra