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ANISugarcane farming Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Friday announced that sugar factories and the government have agreed to give Rs 50 each per tonne of sugarcane over and above the existing purchase price to farmers as the Congress regime struggles to contain the canegrowers agitation.The agitation of sugarcane growers has engulfed nine districts with little or no signs of abating as growers have complained that the price at which their crop was being bought barely covered the costs.The CM chaired a seven-hour meeting on the subject in Bengaluru on Friday to explore the options to diffuse the crisis as the Opposition BJP has pledged its support to the cane growers. The meeting followed a letter from the CM to Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking an urgent appointment to appraise him of the situation in Karnataka that is showing signs of going out of hand.There are 81 sugar mills in Karnataka with one government run and 11 operated in the cooperative sector. The rest are privately owned.The CM, after a limited intervention from the State’s side, has lobbed the issue to the Centre’s court, pressing for policy intervention.Live EventsThe CM, in a statement, said it’s the Centre that fixes fair & remunerative price (FRP) for sugarcane and minimum support price (MSP) for sugar. The Centre also fixes ethanol quota and export limit of sugar as well.The Centre, in May this year, has fixed the FRP for sugarcane inclusive of harvest and transportation, but has not increased the MSP of sugar despite a request from the state government, he said.At the meeting, farmer leaders said the FRP fixed by the Centre was not scientific, and sugar mills were claiming lesser recovery of sugar from the cane. They also sought labs at each sugar factory and payment of dues for canes already purchased. The CM said he has promised to address all the issues raised by farmers.He also responded to a demand from factory owners and agreed to review the 60 paise tax that the government collects from mills for each unit of electricity sold by them to the grid.The farmers were getting an effective price of only Rs 2600 to Rs 3000 per tonne after harvesting and transportation costs but increase in input costs has rendered sugarcane cultivation unviable. The root problem, Siddaramaiah said, lay with the Centre as it controls the policy levers.The farmers were getting an effective price of only Rs 2600 to Rs 3000 per tonne after harvesting and transportation costs but increase in input costs has rendered sugarcane cultivation unviable. The root problem, Siddaramaiah said, lay with the Centre as it controls the policy levers. He wanted the Centre to review the FRP formula, the stagnating MSP for sugar, export curbs and under-utilized ethanol offtake from sugar-based feedstock to address the pressing issue.Add as a Reliable and Trusted News Source Add Now! (You can now subscribe to our Economic Times WhatsApp channel) Read More News onKarnataka sugarcane priceskarnataka sugarcane protestkarnataka protestkarnataka farmerssiddaramaiah (Catch all the Business News, Breaking News and Latest News Updates on The Economic Times.) Subscribe to The Economic Times Prime and read the ET ePaper online....moreless (You can now subscribe to our Economic Times WhatsApp channel)Read More News onKarnataka sugarcane priceskarnataka sugarcane protestkarnataka protestkarnataka farmerssiddaramaiah(Catch all the Business News, Breaking News and Latest News Updates on The Economic Times.) Subscribe to The Economic Times Prime and read the ET ePaper online....moreless Prime ExclusivesInvestment IdeasStock Report PlusePaperWealth Edition123View all Stories
