Raju Shetti’s bike rally for sugarcane price
The Swabhimani Shetkari Sanghatana president demanded a first instalment of Rs4,500 per tonne and a commitment of an additional Rs500 per tonne from sugar mills, as sugar is being sold at higher rates amid short supply.
At the rally’s concluding meet, Shetti said that he is demanding the rightful price farmers should receive. I have given an ultimatum of four days, within which I expect the administration and millers to come together and announce the price,” said Shetti. Recently, CM Devendra Fadnavis had said that if sugar mills from border areas of Maharashtra do not start, then mills from Karnataka will encroach and get cane from Maharashtra farmers, which will leave no cane for Maharashtra mills already struggling financially. There is no chance that the fear of encroachment by Karnataka mills will become a reality,” said Shetti.
“Sugarcane is not free and comes with the price of efforts taken by farmers and inputs that go into cultivation. “We were joined by farmer leaders from Karnataka in the bike rally. They have vowed not to let their mills start crushing.
Do not let the harvesting begin before the mills make a public commitment about the price they will pay for the raw material.