BELAGAVI: Despite bumper sugarcane yields in the last few seasons, cane farmers of North Karnataka are fighting against all odds to eke out a living due to the non-clearance of their dues by sugar mills. The farmers put the blame on the state government for their plight.
“Leave alone clearing our cane bills, the lobby of sugar factories is so cruel that several cane growers have been thrashed by their goondas when they asked for settlement of their dues. Many farmers in Khanapur taluk, who supplied cane to Soubhagyalaxmi Sugar Factory in Belagavi owned by Municipal Administration Minister Ramesh Jarkiholi, were beaten up. Belagavi Deputy Commissioner says the minister’s factory does not owe anything to the farmers,’’ says Eerappa Lakhmoji, a cane grower from Khanapur.
In Belagavi and Bagalkot districts, which are major producers of sugarcane and where factories have not settled dues, most growers have sold their land or raised huge loans to meet expenses.
Many farmers, despite having big lands and abundant yield every season, regularly work as labourers in fields owned by rich farmers.
“I have been working as a daily wage labourer despite having grown sugarcane on my four-acre field at Beedi in Khanapur taluk. Political interference in factory managements has worsened the crisis in the last few years. Despite earning a minimum Rs 10,000 profit from every tonne of sugarcane, factories are not ready to pay even Rs 2,500 per tonne of cane,’’ says Lakmoji.
To worsen matters, a large portion of cane in the taluk, which is surrounded by the Western Ghats, gets destroyed by wild animals. The government is not serious about paying compensation for crops damaged by animals, they say.
“A cane grower here cannot earn a profit of over Rs 20,000 per acre. His profit is zero if he is not paid by factories,’’ says Devendra Hanchinmani, who owns 13-acre land at Beedi village.
‘Crisis due to fluctuating sugar price’
While the government claims that factories owe only Rs 38 crore, farmer leaders put the pending dues at Rs 450 crore.Sugar mills attribute the crisis to losses they are suffering due to fluctuating sugar price in the international market.
“The financial position of many factories is so miserable that we have to ask the chief minister to extend financial assistance to clear farmers’ dues,’’ said MLA Shrimant Patil, who owns Farmers Sugars, Athani.
Sangamesh Nirani, the CEO of Nirani group of companies, which operates cane factories in Jamakhandi and Mudhol, has questioned the chief minister’s intervention in the issue. “Every factory has a different problem and it is difficult to find a concrete solution to this by holding just a meeting,” he said.
Most of the 65 sugar factories in the state have cleared farmers’ dues as per the Fair and Remunerative Price (FRP) fixed by the Centre for cane, but many of them have not paid the additional amount which they orally promised to farmers in the last financial year. According to sources, most of the 22 factories, except Ugar Sugars, in Belagavi district have cleared farmers’ bills as per the FRP.
Sugarcane farmers in Bagalkot say 11 factories have to clear dues for fiscal 2016-17 and 2017-18. While five factories owe Rs 66.58 crore for 2016-17, 10 factories owe Rs 219 crore for 2017-18.