Rudrapur, Sept. 21 -- Sugarcane cultivation area has reportedly shrunk by 998.385-hectare in US Nagar and Nainital this year due to mushrooming colonies. On the contrary, farmers say sugarcane cultivation is profitable but the cost of cultivation has soared and the government is not paying attention to hike its Minimum Support Price (MSP). Shailendra Singh Gahlaut, district sugarcane officer (DCO), US Nagar said, "The sugarcane is cultivated in US Nagar and Nainital of Kumaon region. The area of cultivation has shrunk due to mushrooming of colonies in both districts. This trend has been noticed for the last few years. Farmers sell their agricultural land to the colonizers or builders at high rates instead of farming." Four districts of Kumaon Pithoragarh, Almora and Bageshwar are hilly areas. The farmers of these districts hardly cultivate the sugarcane due to their topography. Farmers of Champawat cultivate the sugarcane in its plain area of Banbasa. US Nagar and Nainital cultivate sugarcane. The sugarcane was cultivated on 22665.346-hectare in both districts in 2024-25. US Nagar cultivated 20827.258-hectare while Nainital 1838.088-hectare on land. In the current year, the area of sugarcane has been cultivated on 21666.960-hectare. US Nagar had six sugar mills in Sitarganj, Kichha, Gadarpur, Bazpur, Kashipur and Nadehi (Jaspur). Two sugar mills Gadarpur and Kashipur have been shut and there is no possibility to restart production. Kashipur was a private sugar mill which went bankrupt in 2012. The premises of Gadarpur sugar mill now have been used by the National Disaster Response Force since 2021. JS Randhawa, a farmer of Bazpur said, "Sugarcane cultivators are discouraged because the government has not increased its MSP for a long time while cost of production has increased....