A meeting between Karnataka’s sugarcane farmers, sugar mill owners and government representatives ended without a consensus in Belagavi on Monday, as farmers demanded higher cane payments, a state incentive and funding for digital weighing machines before mills begin operations.
The meeting was chaired by Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar at the Suvarna Vidhana Soudha. Shivakumar told the gathering that a joint committee formed by the Central government would visit Karnataka on October 29 to study the issue. He asked farmers, the state government and Union Minister Pralhad Joshi to present their demands before the committee and requested them to remain patient until then.
Farmers at the meeting rejected the appeal for more time. State farmers’ association president Chunappa Pujeri demanded that the Fair and Remunerative Price for sugarcane be increased to ₹4,500, the minimum support price for sugar be raised to ₹60, and ₹500 crore be allocated for installing digital weighing machines. He also insisted that the state government immediately announce its ₹1,000 incentive for sugarcane growers.
The farmers said a large group was already staging a protest at Gurlapur Cross in Mudalagi taluk and would return home only after a firm decision was announced. They argued that sugar mills should not be allowed to start crushing operations until their demands were addressed.
Shivakumar said the government had been negotiating with mill owners, who had cited financial, banking, ethanol and electricity-price pressures. According to him, mill owners had argued that they could not pay more for cane unless commercial sugar prices increased, and had even challenged the government to run the mills itself. He said the Centre could not announce a sugar minimum support price only for Karnataka and would have to consider a decision covering the entire country.
The Deputy Chief Minister also said the state spends ₹20,000 crore annually on free electricity for farmers’ pump sets and would have to spend ₹32,000 crore this year because of increased electricity use amid deficient rainfall. He said the government had to protect both farmers and sugar mills because the closure of mills would affect growers, while the absence of farmers would affect the mills.
At one point, Shivakumar told the farmers that the government did not have the money to meet all their demands immediately. He said funds expected from the Centre for drought management had not arrived and added that the state’s finances could not support an immediate price increase. Farmer leaders responded that they would pursue their demands before the Centre but wanted the state to decide immediately on its incentive and digital weighing-machine commitments.
The government had earlier decided that the state would provide part of the payment and sugar mills would contribute the remainder. Officials told the meeting that about 80% of mills had followed that decision, while some had not and had approached the courts. Shivakumar said the arrangement should not lead to similar disputes again.
The meeting ended amid slogans and disorder after Shivakumar asked the farmers to allow one representative at a time to speak. Several ministers, legislators and other elected representatives then left the venue. Earlier, farmer groups had submitted more than 20 demands. Workers from two farmer organisations also clashed during the meeting, throwing water glasses and tearing each other’s clothes, according to the report. The next formal step is the Central joint committee’s visit to Karnataka on October 29.
