Karnataka: Farmers seek fair and remunerative price for sugarcane
Farmers from the Karnataka State Sugarcane Cultivators’ Association protested in Mysuru, demanding a fair and remunerative price of ₹4,000 per tonne for sugarcane. They urged transparent weighing at mills, a share of sugar byproduct profits, monitoring of sugar recovery, support for tobacco farmers, and higher compensation for crop losses from wildlife.
Scores of farmers belonging to the Karnataka State Sugarcane Cultivators’ Association staged a protest in Mysuru on Monday, urging the government to ensure that fair and remunerative price (FRP) was fixed for sugarcane crop.
The farmers demanded that FRP should be fixed at ₹4,000 a tonne, given the increase in cost of cultivation. Alleging that the sugarcane cultivators tend to be cheated during weighing of the harvested crop, the association urged the government to make it mandatory for sugar mills to install weighing scales in front of the factories so that there was transparency in the process.
The farmers submitted a memorandum at the office of the Deputy Commissioner and listed down their demands which included fair share in the profits accruing to the sugar mills from the sale of sugarcane byproducts. The farmers accused a few private sugar mills of fraudulent practices such as showing a decline in percentage of sugar recovery. As the cost of sugarcane is also fixed on the sugar recovery, the association urged the government to constitute a team to monitor the yield or sugar recovery.
The farmers complained of a decline in prices of tobacco crop and urged the authorities to conduct a meeting with the tobacco board and cultivators and help bail out the farmers from financial crisis.
Other issues raised by the agitating farmers pertained to increase in human-wildlife conflict in villages abutting the forest areas and urged the Ministry concerned to increase compensation for crop loss.
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Source : The Hindu
