At a view exchange meeting in Dhaka, the farmers also said the existing rules and regulations are discouraging sugarcane farming, resulting in decrease in sugar production in the country.

Samata, a fair trade organisation, organised the programme to highlight the sugar industry's problems and possible solutions at CIRDAP auditorium.

The meeting also advocated integrated policies for sugar and molasses production.

The annual sugar production of 15 state-run mills is decreasing because the farmers are reluctant to supply sugarcane to mills as they do not get fair prices of their crop, said Abdus Sattar, president of Sugarcane Farmers' Union.

He said as per rules the government can control the sales of sugarcane to ensure the supply of the raw material for sugar mills, Sattar said.

"But the sugarcane mills do not give us fair prices against our crop," he said.

"Besides, mill authorities are used to making delayed payments, much to the frustration of the farmers," said Ansar Ali Dulal, general secretary of Bangladesh Sugarcane Farmers' Union.