Mills, farmers differ on cane price

Sugarcane growers and sugar mill owners in north Karnataka differ over the issue of fixing cane price for the sugar season 2010-11. Both the mills owners and farmers have failed to arrive at a uniform price for the current price across the state.

While the sugar mill owners had offered to pay Rs 1,500 to Rs 1,700 per metric tonne of cane for the current season, the sugarcane farmers demanded payment of Rs 2,200 per tonne as first advance. Farmers across north Karnataka districts like Belgaum, Bijapur, Bagalkot, Gadag, Bidar and Gulbarga have been demanding Rs 2,200 per tonne as well as payment of second installment of Rs 200 per tonne for the last sugar season. In many places, farmers had stopped supply of cane to the mills.

In Karnataka, the prices of sugarcane are always fixed at higher levels in northern districts compared to that in the south, as the recovery of sugar is higher in north. For the current year, the sugarcane prices in south Karnataka are fixed at Rs 1,800 per tonne (ex-factory) and there will be no payment of second installment, officials in South Indian Sugar Mills Association (SISMA) said.

“We are asking for payment of Rs 2,200 per tonne as the cost of cultivation has gone up. The commissioner for cane development in the state has not come to the rescue of farmers and there is no unanimous opinion between the mills to pay remunerative price to farmers. If the state government does not come forward to fix one price, the farmers will go on a dharna on December 8,” Kurubur Shantkumar, president, Karnataka Sugarcane Growers’ Association told Business Standard.

At a meeting between the mill owners, farmers and deputy commissioner of Belgaum on November 23, 2010, some of the mills like Venkateshwara sugar mills and Halasiddanath Cooperative sugar factory had offered Rs 2,000 per tonne. But, the government did not convince the mills to pay more, he said.

Meanwhile, some of the mills have agreed to pay Rs 150-200 as the second installment for last year and Rs 1,800 per tonne for the current season, which is 29.4 per cent higher than the fair and remunerative price (FRP) announced by the Centre for the current sugar season.

In addition to this, they have also agreed to pay Rs 400 per tonne towards the harvest and transportation charges in the districts of Belgaum, Bijapur and Bagalkot.

For the current season (2010-11), however, the Centre announced its FRP of Rs 139.12 a quintal, seven per cent higher than the Rs 129.84 a quintal in the previous season.

“The mills have resolved the issue after a series of discussions with farmers at the deputy commissioners’ level in the districts of Belgaum, Bagalkot and Bijapur, the three main sugarcane growing areas in north Karnataka. The mills have also started crushing operations for the current sugar season,” SISMA officials said.

Mills like Sri Renuka Sugars in Belgaum district, GMR Industries in Dharwad and Belgaum, seven mills in Mudhol have agreed to pay Rs 200 per tonne as second installment for last year.

Crushing has commenced in 55 out of 57 operational mills in the state by end of November. As on date, mills have produced 300,000 tonnes of sugar by crushing 3.3 million tones of sugarcane in the current season at a recovery of 8.9 per cent.