Sugar mills across the state began looking for machine harvesters once it became clear that the Covid-19 pandemic would cast restrictions on availability of farm workers. Most farm hands were stuck in sugar mills when the lockdown was announced in March and could return home only a month later. Now, most of them who live in Marathwada have reservations about travelling to the sugar belt of western Maharashtra. Sugar cane crushing season for this year started on Thursday.
Those associated with the industry have cited the pandemic as well as a drop in the output by the sugar cane cutters as the key reasons for sugar factories to start looking for harvesting machines.
Maharashtra State Cooperative Sugar Factories Federation Ltd (MSCSFFL) president Jaiprakash Dandegaonkar told TOI, “The output per head of sugar cane cutters is dropping. Moreover, there are rising cases of sugar cane cutters taking advance and not returning for work, compelling the sugar factories to opt for more reliable options.”
The machines can harvest between 80 and 100 tonne of sugar cane in a day. Madhya Pradesh and Karnataka are offering up to 40% subsidy on the machines that cost around Rs 1.25 crore.
“To balance things, we will have opt for 50% mechanized harvesting and 50% manual cutting of sugar cane. Considering the cost of the machine and the interest rate, it is not economically feasible otherwise,” said Dandegaonkar.
Earlier, the government used to grant a subsidy of Rs 25 lakh on these harvesters in Maharashtra but it has been stopped since 2014. Amidst the pandemic situation, there has been an increasing demand for giving an insurance cover to the eight to 10 lakh cane cutters in the state. This cover is expected to cost around Rs 900 per cutter. Considering the amount, MSCSFFL has recently sent a proposal requesting the social justice department to bear a portion of this instalment. Those with the MSCFFL have expressed confidence that the issue surrounding the increased labour charges to the sugar cane cutters will be resolved at the earliest, as already three rounds of meetings have been done.
Out of the 190 live sugar factories that have applied for license this year, only 90 have been granted permission, while the permission of others have been put on hold citing the failure to pay Fair and Remunerative Price (FRP) based payments to the farmers for the previous crushing season. As per norms, sugar factories are duty bound to clear bills of the farmers within 15 days of crushing the sugar cane purchased from them.