Karnataka farmers seek uniform price for sugarcane

Sugar factories in north K'taka have refused to pay the price fixed by the government

Bitter with the state government not considering the suggestions made by farmers while fixing the price for sugarcane at Rs 2,500 per tonne, the Karnataka State Sugarcane Growers' Association has accused the government of trying to discriminate between the farmers of north and those in south Karnataka by fixing separate prices.

Association vice-president Shivanand Gurumath told reporters here on Thursday, representatives of farmers had raised objections to the yardsticks used for fixing the sugarcane price in the meeting called by the state government. However, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah had ignored the views of farmers and announced that there would be no change in the sugarcane price fixed by the government, he alleged.

"The state government should fix the price after taking into account the recommendations made by the Centre's Price Fixation Commission. Last year, the Centre fixed the price at Rs 1,700 per tonne of sugarcane. The state government had added Rs 700 as suggestive price and finally fixed Rs 2,400 as sugarcane price.

This year, the central government fixed the price at Rs 2,100, and if Rs 700 is added to it, the final price comes to Rs 2,800. But, the state government had yielded to the sugar factories' lobby and fixed it just Rs 2,500 as sugarcane price," he said and added that the farmers feel betrayed by the government.

He condemned the state government's attempt to attribute the fixation of price at a low level to the decrease in the price of sugar in the market.

Gurumath said, the sugar factories in North Karnataka and Hyderabad-Karnataka region bear the cost of harvesting and transportation. But, the same is not followed by the sugar factories in old Mysore region. The farmers in Old Mysore have to bear the cost of harvesting and transportation. This would cost nothing less than Rs 600 to harvest a tonne of sugarcane. Hence, the government should announce a support price of Rs 3,000 per tonne of sugarcane.

Meanwhile, the sugar factories in north Karnataka have refused to pay the price fixed by the government. It seems to be leading to a stalemate in fixing the right price for sugarcane.

Demanding a scientific price for their produce, the sugarcane growers in Bagalkot, Belgaum and Bijapur districts had agitated continuously for a month.

They had intensified their agitation last week by staging rasta rokos and whole night agitations in front of the houses of elected representatives.

Bowing to the pressure exerted by the farmers, the state government recently called a meeting of sugar factory owners and sugarcane growers and fixed Rs 2,500 per tonne of sugarcane. Following this, protesters withdrew their agitation. However, farmers demanded the sugar factories to start sugarcane crushing process after paying their dues.

In a press release the sugar factories in Bagalkot and Belgaum districts stated that they could pay Rs 2,000 per tonne of sugarcane and demanded that the government should subsidise to the extent of Rs 500 per tonne.