Sugarcane growers of Belagavi district are a quiet lot this election season

This is despite many of their problems remaining unresolved

A file photo of farmers stopping vehicles carrying sugarcane in Athani.

Problems of sugarcane growers in Belagavi district — which accounts for nearly 30% of the State’s sugar production — have been raised before every election, but not so during the Lok Sabha elections this time.

Growers are neither organising meetings or agitations, nor addressing the media. They are shy to speak about it even when asked. A number of sugar factories in north Karnataka are owned by families of political leaders from across parties.

Of the 24 sugar factories in Belagavi, three are defunct. Farmers have said they owe ₹400 crore in arrears since 2014, but factories have said they owe nothing. The former Deputy Commissioner S.B. Bommanahalli held three rounds of meetings with farmers and sugar factory owners between November 2018 and January 2019, but was unable to break the impasse.

Among the other demands of the growers are implementation of the sugar control order that delimits the area around each sugar factory from which the crushing unit is mandated to buy sugarcane from, and fixing a fair and remunerative price (FRP) of ₹3,500 a tonne for the baseline recovery of 8.5%. With every 1% increase, the factory should pay 10% more, growers said. Mandatory market intervention as per the FRP and import ban during periods of low sugar price are the other demands. None of these has been fulfilled so far.

Why are these issues not being raised before those seeking votes. Some leaders said they were not clear which issues were to be addressed by the Centre and which by the State. “Most growers and even some farmers’ leaders don’t know that the Central government plays a major role in fixing sugarcane price, regulating the sugar market, irrigation, and related issues. They tend to think that it is the State government or even the Deputy Commissioner who should regulate the factories and ensure them fair price. This is why sugarcane growers’ distress is not an issue in the Lok Sabha polls,” said Sidagouda Motagi, a farmers’ leader.

Leaders such as Basavaraj Reddy and Revanappa Gangolli said they had been organising meetings and protests wherever possible. “We have submitted a list of demands to every leader who visits our village for campaign, but to no avail,” said Mr. Reddy.

‘Misleading narrative’

Farmers’ leader and former Union Minister Babagouda Patil said this election had become bereft of issues that affect the life of the common man. “The BJP and its leaders such as Narendra Modi and Amit Shah have built a narrative that agriculture is a State issue and if anything goes wrong, farmers should ask the Chief Minister and not the Prime Minister. This is factually incorrect. The Central government has an equal responsibility in ensuring farmers’ welfare,” Mr. Patil said.