Mysuru: Farmers’ organisations in Karnataka have alleged regional discrimination in sugarcane pricing and renewed their call for a uniform rate that benefits cultivators across the State. They have also demanded scrapping of the sugar recovery criteria in pricing fixation.
Addressing the media in Mysuru on November 26, leaders of the Karnataka Pranta Raitha Sangha (KPRS) and the Karnataka Sugarcane Farmers’ Association (KSFA) said sugarcane should be priced at Rs. 3,200 per tonne excluding harvesting and transport costs, or Rs. 4,000 per tonne if these expenses are included.
The associations also demanded scrapping of the sugar recovery criteria in pricing fixation, reported The Hindu.
Jagadish Surya, district secretary of KPRS, said farmers in the southern districts were not receiving the State-fixed price and were losing nearly Rs. 1,000 per tonne in regions such as Mysuru, Mandya and Chamarajanagar.
“When farmers stepped up their protest, the government announced a rate of Rs. 3,200 to Rs. 3,300 per tonne after deducting harvesting and transport. But factories in southern Karnataka are again cutting these charges from the same price, leaving farmers at a loss,” he said.
The associations urged the government to act firmly against the mills following this practice.
They also questioned the link between the Fair and Remunerative Price (FRP) and sugar recovery levels, noting that recovery standards had risen from 8.5% in 2000 to 10.25% in 2022.
“Such increases hurt farmers financially because most sugarcane varieties grown in the State do not yield uniformly high recovery. As a result, every one-percentage-point hike in the recovery norm effectively reduces the price realized by farmers by about Rs. 346 per tonne,” Surya said.
With cultivation costs rising nationwide, the groups said the FRP must reflect actual expenses and align with prices offered in other States. Farmers in Haryana and Punjab receive over Rs. 4,000 per tonne, while in Gujarat the rate ranges from Rs. 4,000 to Rs. 6,000 depending on the variety. In Maharashtra, it stands at Rs. 3,650.
In contrast, farmers in southern Karnataka districts such as Mandya, Mysuru, Chamarajanagar and Hassan continue to bear harvesting and transport costs of Rs. 900 to Rs. 1,300 per tonne, leading to losses, KPRS and KSFA said.
They also urged the government to set up sugar recovery testing labs in different districts and sought a share in the profits from sugarcane byproducts.
