The Karnataka government on Thursday announced the setting up of a technical committee to study sharing of profits between farmers and sugar factories from byproducts of sugarcane.
“The five-member committee to be headed by the Commissioner of Sugar Development will study the issue of sharing profits from byproducts of sugarcane, including ethanol, and will submit its findings in 10 days. Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai will take a decision that will be favourable to the farmers,” Sugar Minister Shankar Patil Munenkoppa told reporters here after chairing a meeting of Sugar Control Board members and sugar factory owners.
Stating that during 2020-21, all the sugarcane farmers’ dues had been settled and a call centre set up to address their grievances. He said of the 72 sugar factories, five factories had not started sugarcane crushing following which direction had been issued to the industries to start crushing.
The meeting in Bengaluru, involving sugar factory owners, comes in the light of sugarcane growers staging a sit-in protest in several districts for over a week now highlighting their problem.
Karnataka State Sugarcane Growers’ Association president Kurubur Shanthakumar said that though the production cost of sugarcane had gone up by 20%, farmers were receiving on an average ₹50 per tonne less than last year due to the yield-based fair and remunerative price (FRP). He said that the FRP had to be raised to a minimum of ₹3,500 per tonne or a State-advised price (SPA) fixed. “The cost of transportation of sugar has increased since last year.”
Pointing to higher price fixed for sugarcane procurement in Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, and Andhra Pradesh, he said that the government should hike purchase price of sugarcane by at least ₹500 a tonne.