From Our Special Correspondent
Daijiworld Media Network - Bangalore

Bangalore, Nov 10: Karnataka government on Sunday persuaded the sugarcane factory owners to agree to paying Rs 2,500 a tonne as the price for crushing sugarcane for the current crushing season of 2013-14 in the State.

The decision followed day-long parleys between representatives of sugarcane growers and sugarcane factory owners along with senior officials of the State Government on Sunday.

The factory owners of north Karnataka would have to pay cutting and transportation of sugarcane to growers owing to high sugar recovery rate (10.55 per cent).

In south Karnataka, growers themselves have to bear the cost of cutting and transportation of cane from the filed to the factory.

The recovery rate in the southern districts is 9.4 per cent.

The price fixed during the last crushing season was Rs 2,400 per tonne of sugarcane.

However, the Karnataka Sugarcane Growers Association has not agreed to the uniform price fixed by the Karnataka Sugarcane Control Board headed by Minister for Sugar Prakash Hukkeri.

The Growers Association has decided to intensify stir after its meeting in Dharward on November 15.

The association demanded yield-based price for the sugarcane and opposed the uniform price fixed by the 15-member Board.

Addressing presspersons, Minister for Sugar Praskash Hukkeri, Minister for Cooperation H S Mahadeva Prasad and Minister of State for Agriculture Krishna Byre Gowda said the Board took note of the positions of both factory owners and sugarcane growers.

With the decrease in the price of sugar in the retail market (Rs 26 a kg), the Board fixed the price at Rs 2,500 per tonne of sugarcane.

"If sugar prices touch Rs 30 and more a kg, the Board will meet again and revise the price for the sugarcane to be paid by factory owners," Gowda said.

Keeping the base price of sugar at Rs 29, the present price was fixed.

Sugar price during the last crushing season was Rs 32 a kg and the crushing rate per tonne was Rs 2400, he said.

While growers have demanded Rs 2,600 per tonne of sugarcane owing to increase in the input, cutting and transportation cost and less yield this year.

Sugarcane crushed during the last crushing season was 329 lakh tonnes and factories are expected to crush 300 lakh tonnes in the current season. The yield was less this year on account of drought in the State.

Factory owners told the Board that the Centre has fixed the fair remunerative price (FRP) at 2100 per tonne for the 2013-14. They expressed their difficulty to pay more with the reduction in the sugar price.

Earlier, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah chaired a meeting with Ministers Hukkeri, S R Patil, Mahadeva Prasad, Krishna Byre Gowda at Kumara Krupa Guest House and directed them to fix the price today itself to avoid delay in the commencement of sugarcane crushing.

Seeking yield-based price for sugarcane, growers have expressed their dissent to the Government’s decision to fix sugarcane price at Rs 2500 a tonne in the current crushing season.

Karnataka Sugarcane Growers Association President Kurubur Shantakumar said: "We are not agreed to the price fixed by the Karnataka Sugarcane Control Board and we will decide the future course of action in Dharwad on November 15."

Emerging out of the meeting, he said "the Government has neither followed the C Rangarajan Committee report on price fixation nor followed scientific guidelines. We have been demanding at least Rs 2600 per tonne of sugarcane for 9.5 per cent recovery."

The cost of sugarcane cultivation has been increased by 25 per cent in the last one year.
Moreover, there has been decline in the yield owing to state-wide drought during the 2012-13. The government turned deaf towards demands, he alleged.

Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha MLA K S Puttanaiah, who is also the member of the Board, took a different view and expressed satisfaction over the price fixed by the Government and sought a permanent policy to address the problem.

Shantakumar urged factory owners to commence crushing operations to ensure at least minimum income to growers. The crop would dry up if factories delayed the crushing.