Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Saturday said that his government was committed to protecting the interests of both the sugarcane growers and the sugar industry by implementing the Karnataka Sugarcane (Purchase and Supply Control) Act 2013 “in a more transparent” manner. Inaugurating the first national conference of sugarcane growers organised by the Consortium of Indian Farmers’ Association (CIFA) and the Karnataka Sugarcane Growers’ Association (KSGA), he said that the government would fix price of sugarcane in a rational and “objective” way.
He pointed out that of the 69 sugar factories established over the last five decades, 57 had survived. Sugarcane is being cultivated in an area of 4.5 lakh hectares and over 320 lakh tonnes of cane was crushed during 2012-13 producing 33.29 lakh tonnes of sugar.
The demand, however, from sugar factories is about 550 lakh tonnes and growers have to increase production to meet the demand. Both cane growers and sugar factories were facing problems because of the delay in the fixation of price, variations in the yield of sugar.
Setting up of the Sugarcane Control Board comprising representatives from growers and sugar factories was a step in the right direction, he said.
