Farmers resist early sugarcane crushing

Pune: Farmers' organisations in Maharashtra and Karnataka are resisting the government's push for an early start to sugarcane crushing to ensure adequate sugar supplies during Diwali, demanding compensation for lower recovery and higher sugar and ethanol prices before mills begin operations.They have urged mills and farmers not to begin harvesting and crushing until their demands are accepted, claiming that crushing immature cane will reduce output and sugar recovery, increasing losses for farmers and sugar mills.Also read: Nitin Gadkari says 100% ethanol car can cut fuel bills to just Rs 25 per litreUnion food and consumer affairs minister Pralhad Joshi has called a meeting on October 12 to discuss the demands.Farmer leaders said a raise in minimum support price (MSP) for sugar and higher ethanol prices will enable mills to pay farmers more for cane. "Why should the farmers and the mills suffer losses just because the government wants to increase sugar availability for the festival season," said Raju Shetty, chairman of Swabhimani Shetkari Sangathana. "Crushing immature cane can result in loss of six tonnes per acre for the farmers, which translates to monetary loss of about Rs 20,000 per acre," Shetty said.Early crushing of sugarcane will also result in lower recovery of sugar as the recovery or the sucrose content in cane increases after November, he added.In the last six months, India turned from an exporter to an importer of sugar as production estimates went wrong and exports depleted domestic sugar stocks, taking prices to historically high levels.Along with other price control measures, the central government has asked sugar mills to advance their crushing operations by about a month to increase availability of sugar in the country.Last week, Swabhimani Shetkari Sangathana and Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangh protested in front of minister Joshi's house in Hubballi, demanding compensation for early crushing.Also read: Ethanol blending: India should consider temporary cut to 15% from 20% target, says ICRIERFarmer leaders have claimed that nearly 50% of the sugar in the country is produced by sugar mills on both sides of the border of Maharashtra and Karnataka; areas which are currently reeling under drought."If the sugar recovery rate declines this year, it can lead to lower fair and remunerative price (FRP) next year as FRP is aligned to the recovery rate," Shetty said.Many sugar mills may also face losses as they have to pay a minimum FRP for 10.25% recovery even if the actual recovery is less than it, he added.