Since almost a week, sugarcane growers in Maharashtra have taken to the streets in the sugarcane belt of Sangli and Kolhapur to demand higher cane prices. They have stopped vehicles ferrying harvested cane and even torched a few of them. The Indian Express explains why the agitation for higher cane prices has become a near-permanent feature during Maharashtra’s crushing season.

 

How is cane price decided?

 

As per the provisions of the Sugarcane Control Order of 1966, mills have to pay the government-declared Fair and Remunerative Price (FRP) to cane growers within 14 days of cane sale. In case they fail to do so, the sugar commission has the power to auction off the properties of errant mills. Since 2014, Maharashtra has also accepted the Revenue Sharing Formula proposed by the C Rangarajan Committee, which suggests sharing revenues between growers and mills at the end of the crushing season.

 

According to this formula, 70 per cent of realisations from sale of sugar and its by-products should go to the farmer and 30 per cent should go to the mills to help cover their expenses. In case the amount payable to farmers under the revenue-sharing formula turns out to be lower than the FRP, farmers have to be paid the basic FRP.

 

Agitation for more payment

 

In the cane belt of Kolhapur and Sangli, mills and farmers enjoy some advantages which their counterparts in Marathwada or north Maharashtra don’t. Thanks to assured water supply, farmers are more certain of a good crop, with the average per acre yield reported to be around 50-60 tonnes. For mills, higher recovery translates to more sugar being manufactured per tonne of cane crushed. Mills in Kolhapur and Sangli, whose average recovery is around 12.50 per cent (ratio of sugar produced to cane crushed) produce 125 kg of sugar when they crush 1,000 kg (1 tonne) of cane. This is much higher than than the mills in Marathwada, which produce nearly 115 kg of sugar per tonne of cane.