‘Cane crushing advancement by K’taka not concerning’
Kolhapur: The advancement of sugar cane crushing season by Karnataka to October 25 will have no impact on the sugar mills in Maharashtra, claimed the chairman of Maharashtra Federation of Cooperative Sugar Mills, P R Patil, on Friday.
In Maharashtra, the sugar cane crushing is set to begin from November 1. The decision to postpone the crushing season was taken by the state government owing to shortage of sugar cane production this year.
Earlier, the Karnataka government had decided to allow cane crushing between November 1 and 15. And the decision had come as a huge relief for the mills situated on the Maharashtra’s border areas as farmers would have preferred sending their produce to the neighbouring state.
Now, as the start of crushing season has been advanced in Karnataka, the millers fear that they will witness a drop in the supply of sugar cane as the farmers will start sending their produce to Karnataka.
Patil, while speaking to TOI, said, “We suggested the state government to allow the millers to start crushing from November 1 taking all the factors into consideration. There is a shortage of workers in Karnataka mainly due to the festive season. In Karnataka, Dasara is celebrated for more number of days and during that time the workers do not undertake any job. By the time they will begin harvesting in Karnataka, harvesting in Maharashtra will also begin.”
“This time, due to deficiency in rainfall, the ripening of the sugar cane has been delayed. Without perfect ripening, the sugar yield will be less and thereby the farmers will get less money,” Patil said.
Meanwhile, due to shortage in the supply of workers, the mills tend to hire harvester machines.
“We have requested the government to sanction Rs 35 lakh subsidy to buy the harvester machines. The owners of the machines get Rs 400 for every tonne harvested which is less than labour charge,” said Patil.
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