Priyank Kharge Urges Sugar Minister to Protect Farmers’ Interests Karnataka
Deccan Chronicle
Kalaburagi: Kalaburagi District In-charge Minister and Minister for Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Priyank Kharge has urged the Sugarcane Development and Sugar Industries Shivanand Patil to take measures to ensure fair revision of the sugarcane pricing system and stricter regulation to protect the interest of farmers in Kalaburagi. “For the 2025–26 season, the Government of India has fixed the sugar recovery rate at 10.25 percent and set the Fair and Remunerative Price (FRP) at Rs 3,550 per tonne of sugarcane. As per the Sugarcane (Control) Order, 1966, all sugar factories are required to pay farmers according to the FRP fixed by the Central Government. However, the FRP rate fixed this year is not fair or reasonable, and several complaints have been received from cane growers and farmers’ organisations in Kalaburagi district,” he stated in the letter.
Kharge stated that the FRP fixed by the Government of India is unscientific, and due to the increase in prices of agricultural inputs, the cost of sugarcane cultivation has risen sharply, resulting in substantial losses to farmers. “Therefore, it is urged that the State Government recommend to the Centre to revise the FRP scientifically, considering the actual cost of cultivation and fixing it based on a 9.5 percent recovery rate.
Describing the demand as fair and justified, Kharge said protecting farmers’ interests was the State’s duty and suggested forming a State-level Expert Committee with farmer representatives to study anomalies in FRP fixation and submit recommendations to the Centre. “Although Kalaburagi district has similar climatic conditions, soil quality, and irrigation facilities, sugar factories have been showing lower recovery rates for their convenience, causing losses to farmers.
There are five sugar factories in the district, and all have submitted different recovery figures to the government, allegedly misleading farmers,” he said. Kharge stated that these factories measure recovery rates in their own laboratories and submit reports to the government, but farmers have complained of a lack of transparency in this process. To address this, Kharge proposed establishing modern NABL-accredited laboratories in every factory under the supervision of the Deputy Commissioner. These labs would conduct daily recovery tests and share reports with the government, farmers, and the public—beginning with a pilot project in Kalaburagi.
On the issue of harvesting and transport costs, Kharge said farmers were being cheated both in weight and recovery percentage. He recommended making GPS mapping technology mandatory to monitor sugarcane movement from farm to collection centre and urged the implementation of the transportation rates fixed by the Cane Development Commissioner on August 26, 2025. He also raised concerns over delayed payments to cane growers. Farmers from border villages, especially in Afzalpur taluk, were reportedly supplying cane to factories in Maharashtra and Telangana for better prices and timely payments. Citing the Sugarcane (Control) Order, 1966, he said factories must pay within 14 days of cane delivery, failing which they are liable to pay 15 percent interest and face action under the Essential Commodities Act, 1955. “DCs may be directed to conduct monthly reviews to ensure that payments are made promptly, and to take strict action under the Sugarcane (Control) Order, 1966 in cases of delay,” he added.
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Source : Deccan Chronicle
