Sugarcane farmers protest over delay in increasing FRP; object to absence of farmers’ representative in Ramesh Chand panel

Sugarcane farmers staged a protest in front of Agriculture Produce Market Committee (APMC) premises in Mysuru on Thursday to express their anger over the delay in increasing the Fair and Remunerative Price (FRP) for sugarcane.

The farmers, who objected to the absence of a farmers’ representative in the Ramesh Chand Committee constituted by the Centre to examine the issues raised by the sugarcane farmers, threatened to intensify their agitation if the delay in increasing the FRP prolongs.

Addressing the protestors, president of Karnataka State Sugarcane Growers’ Association Kurubur Shanthakumar said the Committee should include a representative of the farmers to ensure that their concerns are addressed and justice is delivered.

He said the Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices (CACP) obtains reports from State governments every year and that the FRP should be revised based on these reports.

The Association demanded separate pricing for sugar produced for commercial and consumer use so that the additional profits earned by sugar mills can be shared with farmers.

Arguing that the cost of sugarcane cultivation had increased considerably, Mr. Shanthakumar urged the Union Government to raise the FRP to ₹4,500 per tonne for a basic recovery rate of 10.25%.

Citing the provisions of the Sugarcane (Control) Order, 1966, the association also called for a mechanism to share profits from sugarcane by-products. It urged the Karnataka government to increase the State Advised Price (SAP) by ₹800 per tonne over and above the FRP, following the model adopted by Tamil Nadu.

Loan waiver

Referring to the demand for a farm loan waiver, Mr. Shanthakumar said Minister for Public Works Satish Jarkiholi had recently assured the protesting farmers in Bengaluru that a meeting of farmers’ representatives will be convened in about a week’s time by the Chief Minister in Bengaluru.

The farmers will wait and see if the assurance is fulfilled, he said.

Pointing out that 217 taluks in Karnataka had been affected by severe drought, the association said crops had been damaged across nearly 20 lakh hectares, leaving farmers in distress.

Referring to the “pittance” provided by the government as drought relief, the agitating farmers said they did not want charity in the form of relief. To drive home the message, the farmers raised ₹1,770 by collecting contributions of ₹1 and ₹5 coins from among themselves. The farmers now plan to send the collected funds through a demand draft to the government, Mr. Shanthakumar said.

Estimating crop losses to be more than ₹20,000 crore in Karnataka, Mr. Shanthakumar sought a compensation of ₹25,000 per acre for the farmers suffering crop loss in the drought.

Legislators and Ministers, who describe themselves as public servants, should forgo their salaries and allowances for one year and use the savings to support drought-hit farmers, he said.

He said Maharashtra had waived farmers’ loans up to ₹2 lakh while Tamil Nadu had also implemented a farm loan waiver. The State government should also waive farm loans in view of the severe difficulties faced by farmers, he said.

He pointed out that harassment by lenders over recovery of pending loans had added to the farmers’ distress and called upon the Government for measures to protect the rural women from harassment by private finance companies.