KPRS, sugarcane growers plan to stage protest in Kalaburagi on Nov. 5
The Karnataka Prantha Raitha Sangha (KPRS) and the Karnataka State Sugarcane Growers district committee plan a protest on November 5, demanding adjustments to the sugar recovery rate and payment of outstanding dues by sugar factories. KPRS is pressing for the recovery rate to be reduced from 10.25% to 8.5% and for the FRP to be raised to ₹5,000 per tonne.
Members of the Karnataka Prantha Raitha Sangha (KPRS) and the district committee of Karnataka State Sugarcane Growers will stage a protest outside the Deputy Commissioner’s office here on November 5, urging the Union government to revise sugar recovery rate, help reach a bilateral agreement between sugar factories and farmers and to press for settling long-pending dues for sugarcane supplied to various factories in the district. Addressing presspersons here on Monday, KPRS district president Sharanabasappa Mamshetty urged the Centre to revise sugar recovery rate from 10.25% to 8.5%. The FRP for sugarcane for the 2024-25 season has been fixed at ₹340 per quintal at a sugar recovery rate of 10.25%, which is 8% higher than the FRP fixed during 2023-24.
He demanded that the government fix FRP at ₹5,000 per tonne at a sugar recovery rate of 8.5%. He said that the factories are charging exorbitant prices for harvesting and transporting sugarcane from the field to factories. For harvesting and transporting sugarcane, the factories are charging ₹588 per tonne for a distance of 5 km, ₹608 for 10 km, ₹637 for 15 km and ₹661 for 20 km. He said that a delegation of sugarcane growers met the Director of Sugarcane Development and the Commissioner of Sugarcane Development in Bengaluru in July and sought their intervention in the release of dues to sugarcane growers for their produce supplied to various sugar factories.
Even after three months now, neither the district administration nor the sugar factories have responded, Mr. Mamshetty added. Dues Mr. Mamshetty said that KPR Sugars has to pay ₹17.82 crore for crushing 11 lakh tonnes of sugarcane supplied by 25,000 farmers. Similarly, Renuka Sugars has to clear ₹11.20 crore dues to 23,000 farmers. Renuka Sugars has paid ₹2,550 per tonne against the fixed FRP of ₹3,282 per tonne. NSL Sugars in Aland taluk has paid ₹2,450 per tonne against the FRP of ₹3,018 per tonne and Ugar Sugars of Jewargi taluk has paid ₹2,500 per tonne against the fixed FRP of ₹3,150 per tonne. If the government fails to fulfil their demands immediately, the sugarcane growers said that they have decided to organise a Belagavi Chalo and stage a protest outside the Suvarna Soudha during the winter session of the Legislature.
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