You are doomed if you are a cane farmer – idhar khai, udhar naala,” laments Parmanand, a sugarcane grower in Hapur district of western Uttar Pradesh (UP). While he concedes that sugarcane is the most remunerative cash crop, he also tells us how he is yet to receive full payment for the crop he sold last year to a nearby sugar mill. Similar is the plight of several other farmers in this northern state, which contributes one-fourth of the country’s total sugar production.