New Delhi, November 9:  

Sugarcane farmers in Maharashtra are likely to sell 2 million tonnes (mt) of their produce to mills in north Karnataka during the 2017-18 (October-September) season, Kolhapur-based farmers’ union Swabhimani Shetkari Sanghatana said.

 

Sugar mills in Maharashtra seek “immediate” intervention of the State government to prevent movement of sugarcane from the State to north Karnataka.

 

“Some mills in north Karnataka are trying to get cane from Maharashtra’s Kolhapur and Sangli areas as these are border regions,” Vijay Autade, Managing Director at Shahu Sugar, had said last month.

 

Mills in Maharashtra have requested the State government to ban this inter-State movement, Autade had said.

 

But Raju Shetty, Chairman of Swabhimani Shetkari Sanghatana, said:“The State government has said it would ban inter-State transfer of cane. But we don’t believe in any ban and farmers will sell 20 lakh tonnes of cane to north Karnataka mills.”

 

If farmers get better prices from mills in north Karnataka, they have the right to sell cane to them, Shetty said.