Nibbling some breakfast at a cane field in Shel Pimpalgaon, 30 km north of Pune, Rathore told ET Magazine that the money here isn’t great either. The father and son team make Rs 1,000 for cutting and transporting two tonnes of cane per day. But cane farmers of Shel Pimpalgaon are in no position to be better paymasters either. Payment from sugar mills that buy their sugarcane has been slow, and the winter onion crop too is selling at 15% less than cost price.

 

In his forties, Vastajbhau Dondkar of Shel Pimpalgaon grows both cane and onions and says he gets little guidance from the government on which crops to cultivate in a particular year, to avoid a glut and price crash. He was left unimpressed by the budget dole announced on Friday. When contacted, he said: “A bag of fertiliser costs Rs 1,500, so a dole of Rs 2,000, three times a year, is no help. We don’t need doles. We’re selling our crops at less than cost price. That is our biggest problem. What I need is remunerative

 

Maharashtra farmers are also battling a crisis on other fronts. Much of the state is reeling under drought (151 talukas out of 358). Along with cash crops such as sugarcane, cotton and onion, even dairy farming has turned unremunerative — with cattle owners forced to sell milk at Rs 18-19/litre, 33% below the cost. Last week, there were multiple protests in front of the sugar commissioner’s office in Pune, a regulator for the sugarcane sector in the state. The cane harvesting season starts in December and continues till March. Farmers turn in their crop at one of the state’s 191 sugar mills and are paid at a government determined Fair and Remunerative Price (FRP).

 

The FRP provides security to sugarcane cultivation. However, this year there is already a backlog FRP payments in excess of Rs 5,000 crore. The mills have stated their inability to pay up FRP of Rs 2,750 per tonne, citing a sugar glut. Raju Shetti, a Lok Sabha MP from Swabhimani Paksha, was at the forefront of the protests last week and has even threatened to go on a hunger strike if payments are not released. “The sugar mills are controlled by major political parties and they hold on to the cash during election years,” Shetti told ET Magazine. He said a similar crisis was diffused in 2013 by a central government grant. “This year, the situation is worse, and it forced me to come to Pune to agitate,” the Kolhapur-based farmer leader said on January 29. This year, the area under sugarcane cultivation went up by 28% and production is estimated at 927.20 lakh tonne, which could mean a total FRP commitment of more than Rs 25,000 crore.

 

For now, the BJP-led state government has promised police action against defaulting sugar mills and also promised to seize and auction sugar stocks at mills to pay farmers. Barely 50 metres away from Shetti’s protest, another sit-in demonstration was being held by members of Shetkari Sanghatana, a body Shetti had broken away from. Executive president Kalidas Apet said the agricultural mess is a “problem of plenty”.

 

“We don’t want subsidies or support price. The government should remove export curbs and other restrictions imposed by the Essential Commodities Act. Indian farmers are capable of finding buyers across the world and make money,” he said. The All India Kisan Sabha, affiliated to the CPI-M, is also getting into the act. Last year, it organised a 180-km march by more than 10,000 farmers from Nashik to Mumbai. It is planning another gathering of 25,000 on the farm crisis this month.