Sugarcane farmers in the region are in dire straits due to glut in sugar production. The government’s decision early this week to hike the import duty on sugar from 25 per cent to 40 per cent was described as too little too late by the farmers here. Kurubur Shanthakumar, president of the Sugarcane Cultivators’ Association, told The Hindu that the decision to hike import duty on sugar should have been introduced earlier to prevent the glut in the market and prevent the slide in prices.
With the glut in production, farmers are on tenterhooks as to whether they will recover their input costs. “Let alone profits, we would be happy if the input costs are recovered”, said Devaraja, a member of the association.
Mr. Shanthakumar pointed out that nearly 4.2 crore tonnes of sugarcane was crushed in the State this year as against the 3.8 crore tonnes last year and hence farmers were hoping for a good remunerative price. But their hopes have faded as the market was flooded with imported sugar, he added.
Besides facing the prospects of unsold crop, the farmers are yet to receive arrears due to them from various sugar mills and the State owes them more than Rs. 3,150 crore to the cultivators, according to the association members. While the cost of cultivation has gone up to Rs. 2,800 per tonne of sugarcane, the minimum support price depended on the sugar recovery.
