Talks between sugarcane growers and management of factories hit a deadlock in Belagavi

Talks between farmers and the management of sugar factories hit a deadlock after they failed to reach an agreement over the price to be fixed for sugarcane this season.

Mohammed Roshan, Belagavi Deputy Commissioner, convened a meeting on Tuesday of farmers, factory owners, and other department officials concerned in his office to discuss the farmers’ demand for ₹3,500 per tonne, apart from transport and cutting charges. Sugar Commissioner M.R. Ravi Kumar, SP Bheemashankar S. Guled and others were present.

While the farmers agreed to scale down their demand to ₹3,300 per tonne, the factory managements said they were unable to pay more than ₹3,200.

Farmer leaders argued that they were spending nearly one lakh per acre for cultivating sugarcane and a price of ₹3,500 could help them make at least minimal profits. “The average crop yield in our district is 40 tonnes. But we will get only around ₹1.2 lakh per acre if the factory owners pay around ₹3,000 per tonne. For a 12-month crop, this comes to around ₹10,000 per month. We will be helped greatly if the price rises to ₹3,500 per tonne, as we will get around ₹1.4 lakh per acre, or around ₹12,000 per month. As the average size of sugarcane fields in northern Karnataka is around three acres, it ill come to around ₹35,000 per month, which is the salary of a class D worker in the panchayat office,” Shreeshail Pujari, farmer leader, said.

Factory managers, however, said that they were facing several challenges like fluctuating prices of sugar, regulated market for molasses, and uncertain prices for ethanol, in the backdrop of international developments. They also said that several factories had taken long-term loans and in some cases, were burdened with dues.

A factory manager said that the fair and remunerative price fixed by the Union government was ₹3,550 for 10% recovery, which was ₹15 more than last year’s FRP. “This was including the transport and cutting charges. Factories were bound to pay ₹35 in addition to the FRP, if the sugar recovery rate rose by an additional 1%. Almost all the factories were paying this to farmers,” he said.

The meeting went on till evening but the parties could not arrive at an agreement. Mr. Roshan urged farmers and the management to come to a mutually agreeable solution as soon as possible.

Earlier, BJP State president B.Y. Vijayendra visited the protest site at Gurlapur where farmers have been camping for five days now. He announced that he would celebrate his birthday at this site along with farmers on Wednesday. He said that the BJP will turn this into a Statewide protest if the State government did not fulfil the demand of farmers.

Chunappa Pujari, farmer leader, urged Mr. Vijayendra to convince sugar factory owners in the BJP like Prabhakar Kore, Ramesh Katti, Murugesh Nirani, and others to announce a higher price, without waiting for the government to enforce it.

Satish Jarkiholi, district in-charge Minister, said he had asked the Deputy Commissioner and other officials to resolve the issue at the district level. “If that does not happen, the State government will intervene. The DC is in constant touch with farmers. If the need arises, I will go and meet the farmers,” he said.

To a query, he said it was natural for the Opposition to meet protesting parties. BJP leaders have met protesting farmers. Congress leaders have also met them and expressed solidarity.

Protesters have blocked roads and bridges, to attract the attention of the government. “That is natural during a protest. I can promise the farmers that the government is attaching the highest importance to farmers issues. We will try our best to help them,” he said.