Farmers agree to allow sugarcane crushing in mills starting today

Police detaining Chunappa Pujeri who was leading the Jail Bharo protest by sugarcane farmers at Mukti Math in Belagavi on Thursday.

Sugarcane farmers announced that their protest for revised sugar and sugarcane prices ended on Thursday and that they will allow crushing operations in sugar factories from Friday.

Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha and Hasiru Sene leader Chunappa Pujeri told reporters that the farmers are hopeful of getting at least ₹5,000 per tonne with the factories paying ₹4,000 and the State government giving an incentive of ₹1,000.

“We expect that the factories will pay ₹3,600 now and ₹400 after the end of the crushing season. We also demand that Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar announces an incentive of ₹1,000 per tonne,” he said.

The announcement came after an intervention by Hukkeri Math seer Sri Chandrashekar Shivacharya at Gurlapur Cross.

“The seer told us that factories need to start crushing sugarcane as the crop is drying in the fields and farmers will suffer if their crop is not harvested. We respect him and will take his advice,” Mr. Pujeri said.

“The seer said that he will stand with the protesting farmers but, he is intervening to break the deadlock between farmers and sugar factories. We will allow the factories to harvest and transport the crop and begin factory operations. However, they need to pay us ₹3600 per tonne upfront,” Mr. Pujeri said.

Farmers leader Chukki Nanjundaswami said that the protest by sugarcane farmers is not limited to Belagavi or Karnataka alone but, is relevant to the whole country.

“We appreciate the Belagavi district administration for having proposed the profit sharing formula between factories and farmers. It is based on the C. Rangarajan committee recommendations where farmers get 75% of the profits and factories the balance. This should be followed in all districts,” she said.

To a query, she said that in each district, government officers have to consult farmers and factories before fixing the final procurement price for sugarcane.