Sugar Minister Shankar Patil Munenakoppa on Monday said that for the first time in the sugar industry history in Karnataka, ethanol has been considered for payment to farmers above the fair and remunerative price. As part of it, farmers will be getting ₹50 per tonne over the FRP, which would mean that the sugarcane growers will get ₹204.47 crore additional money. “In 2022-2023 crushing season, farmers in all will get ₹200 per tonne more than the previous season. This includes rise in FRP by ₹150 announced by the Centre.” In all, farmers will get ₹3,100 per tonne this season.

In 2021-2022, a total of 622.26 lakh tonnes of cane was crushed to produce 59.78 lakh tonne of sugar, he said, adding that sugar factories had paid ₹19,922 crore till the end of October. “In 2022-23 crushing season, it estimated that 78 sugar factories will start crushing of which 68 have already started. In this season, factories have crushed 119.46 lakh tonnes of cane to produce 38.77 lakh quintal of sugar.