Mysuru: Karnataka State Sugarcane Growers Association Thursday staged a protest by burning sugarcane straw near the APMC office on the Mysuru-Nanjangud highway, demanding that the Union govt provide a fair remunerative price (FRP) of Rs 5,500 per tonne of sugarcane.
The protesters also demanded that the state govt increase its state advisory price (SAP) along the lines of neighbouring Tamil Nadu , where its govt provided Rs 800 per tonne for sugarcane supply, in addition to the FRP provided by the Union govt, by adding the profit earned by sugar mills from various sugarcane byproducts. Farmers in Karnataka were badly hit by crop destruction across 20 lakh hectares of land in 212 taluks this year. You Can Also Check: Gold Rate in Mysuru | Silver Rate in Mysuru | Bank Holidays in Mysuru | Public Holidays in Mysuru Stay updated with the latest Mysuru news.
They said sugar mills earned huge profits by selling byproducts such as molasses and bagasse and by producing electricity and alcohol, but were not passing the profits from the byproducts to farmers. Addressing the protesters, State Sugarcane Growers Association president Kuruburu Shanthakumar said farmers will not get justice if their representative is not included in the expert committee. Shanthakumar also urged the govt to waive crop loans borrowed by farmers from cooperative and nationalised banks owing to drought this year, besides providing scientific compensation to affected farmers. The govt must also direct banks to stop forceful recovery of loan repayments from farmers and women’s self-help group members this year, as they were struggling to repay loans owing to lack of jobs, crop loss and drought, among other reasons. Download the TOI App.