Has the standoff between farmers and sugar factory owners made farmers rethink their crop choice for the next season?
Sugarcane growing districts Mandya and Belagavi present a picture of contrasts. While farmers in Mandya are planning a shift in crop choice, Belagavi farmers are keen to stick with sugarcane.
In Mandya, that has one of the oldest State-owned sugar factories in the country (started in 1934), farmers cultivated cane in 38,649 hectares in 2014-15. While the private sugar mills are notorious for late payments, the State-owned Mysore Sugar Company Ltd. (Mysugar) is not running to full capacity.
With standing crops withering in hundreds of acres, some farmers have burnt their crops.
The “powerful private sugar lobby” is destroying Mysugar, alleges KRRS leader Shambhunahalli Suresh.
Mysugar had entered into an agreement with the farmers to crush six lakh tonnes for 2014-15, but has barely touched half mark even as the season is coming to an end.
Faced with a crisis, many plan to switch to other crops. Marisidde Gowda and Channamade Gowda from Gorawale say they will shift to paddy the next season. About 25 per cent of sugarcane farmers in Haralahalli village of Pandavapura taluk have either completely or partially switched to vegetable cultivation.
Interestingly, only young farmers are trying other options while older people are still sticking to sugarcane.
“The attraction about sugarcane, a 12-month crop, is that you need to tend to the crop only for about three months and relax for the remaining period,” says a farmer.
At Belagavi, the highest sugarcane growing district in Karnataka, sugarcane cultivation increased to 2.16 lakh hectares in 2014-15 from 2.07 lakh hectares the previous year. So far, less than half the standing crop has been harvested though Belagavi has 22 sugar factories of which seven are in the cooperative sector.
However, there is a reluctance to shift to other crops. According to S. Nijalingappa Sugar Institute director R.B. Khandagave, farmers with irrigation facility stick to sugarcane because they feel the risks involved in other crops as higher. Many also depend on fodder from cane for their cattle. Switching to other commercial crops like vegetable and horticulture crops is seen as “more risky” in terms of yield and price, he says.
