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For Belgaum’s sugarcane farmers, elections mean voting for the very people who keep them in misery

Manjunath Somaraddy

Belgaum: Karnataka is the third largest grower of sugarcane in India but it also owes its cane farmers Rs 3990 crores till the 2018-19 marketing year (almost Rs 900 crore more since four years earlier). Karnataka has 11 of the 100 leading sugarcane producing districts of the country, spread across both the southern regions of Mandya, Mysore and Chamrajnagar, and Belgaum, Bijapur, Bidar, Raichur and Bagalkot in the North. In arid Belgaum, where 35% of the state’s sugarcane is grown, farmers are a besieged lot. On top of the declining production, rising costs of cultivation and drop in support price for the crop, they have to weather long-pending arrears from cane crushing and sugar manufacturers. Their dramatic protest last November, of gatecrashing the Vidhan Soudha compound in Belagavi driving tractors and lorries laden with sugarcane, was not good optics for the new JD(S)-Congress government. Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy came under controversy when he responded sarcastically to a woman farmer at the protest and also alleged that they were politically motivated.

Angry farmers - this time not just from Belgaum - descended on Bangalore that very weekend demanding sugarcane MSP to be increased from Rs 2500 per tonne to 3000. They argued that the MSP for per ton is Rs 3500 in Maharashtra, Rs 3500 in Punjab and Rs 3,000 in Haryana. No significant announcement followed the resulting talks between the CM and farmer leaders, cane growers and mill owners. The meeting happened in Vidhana Soudha where the mill owners must have felt quite at home, considering most of them are also politicians.

There are 65 sugar factories in the state and 58 are functional. There are 22 factories in the cooperative sector, with only two factories under government control. 34 privately owned, of which 33 factories are owned by political leaders. In North Karnataka, sugar factories are owned by powerful politicians such as Prakash Hukkeri, MB Patil, Murugesh Nirani, Umesh Katti and Siddi Namagowda.

Of the 60-odd sugar factories in the state, only two are state-owned; the rest are in the private and cooperative sector. And among the 34 mills in private hands, 33 factories are owned by political leaders. In North Karnataka, sugar factories are owned by powerful politicians across the spectrum who hold considerable sway in their regions irrespective of which government is sitting in Bangalore.

In fact, during the protests in November, the Karnataka State Sugarcane Growers Association had asked the state government to amend the Karnataka Sugarcane (Regulation of Purchase and Supply) Act, 2013, to include provisions for imposing penalty and putting behind bars sugar mill owners, who do not pay their sugarcane dues to the farmers. Such a penal provision had become a necessity to protect the farmers’ interests, they felt, considering most of the mills by Ministers, MLAs and MPs.

So, cruelly, political parties give these farmers no option but to vote into office the very people who push them into debt. Once prosperous thanks to fertile soil, plenty of water and a reasonable price for their produce, sugarcane farmers today are reeling under declining yield due to drought conditions for the past three years and deteriorating soil quality.

The average yield of sugarcane in Karnataka (and with it, the state’s contribution to national production) has come down from a high of about 101 tonnes per hectare in 2009-10 to 73 tonnes per hectare in 2016-17, largely because of continuous irrigation, indiscriminate use of fertilizers and the practice of ratoon or stubble cropping.

There is also criticism that the farmers have also been slow to adopt new farming technology like drip irrigation. “Farmers should learn new ways of agriculture and concentrate on other crops,” said Vishwanath Udagatti, a young farmer of Mudhol, an engineer who gave up a job in Australia to take up farming. “Farmers use too much water. What they use for one acre, I use for three acres. Drip irrigation is best. Maharashtra has made drip irrigation mandatory for sugarcane growers. The Karnataka government gives subsidy for drip irrigation but it is not being properly utilised.” Vishwanathan pointed out that it costs Rs 50,000 per acre to install an ISI certified drip irrigation system, with the state giving a subsidy of Rs 35,000. “I installed a non-ISI drip irrigation system for just Rs 10,000 per acre. But other farmers are not interested in installing drip irrigation.”

Troublingly, the yield has further plummeted in the past two years. “We used to grow 60 to 80 tonnes per acre but now it is just 30 to 40 tonnes,” said Muttappa Komar, a farmer of Ingalagi and a member of Raita Sanga, a farmers organisation. “The rate too came down from Rs 3,010 per tonne in 2016-2017 to Rs 2,150 per ton now. Then there is the cost of harvesting and transportation. We get no income from growing sugarcane as we have to clear the loans taken for seeds and fertiliser.”

The farmers’ biggest problem, however, remains the factories who buy their cane but don’t clear payments on time. “We get the first payment three months after supplying cane,” added Muttappa. Even though the Sugarcane (control) order, 1966, mandates payment within 14 days of purchasing the cane failing which the sugar factories are supposed to pay an interest of 15 per cent per annum on the remaining amount due. But mills are flouting the order with impunity. “A few factories of Belgaum have not cleared the dues of ten years back.” said Muttappa.

“India produces 35 million lakh tons of sugar per annum but consumes only 26 million lakh tons,” said Dr R B Khandagavi, Director of Nijalingappa Sugar institute Belgaum. “The excess stock remains in the factories. The market price of sugar has also not been attractive, so factories delay payments to farmers and struggle to pay FRP price.”

On the issue of arrears from the sugar units, Vishwanathan alleged that factory owners are cheating the farmers by showing they are running under heavy losses. They also pollute groundwater by dumping their waste in ponds and canals, Vishwanathan said. “The sugar mill here has polluted the environment of Mudhol. Black ash, spent wash (wastewater of distilleries), chemicals and carbon have polluted the environment, soil and water sources of the area. Mudhol has about 4000 cancer cases and its residents have gone to the Supreme Court and National Green Tribunal.” He protested the release of spent wash from mills into the water channels and accompanied the District Environment Officer for a spot visit. The hearing is on-going.  

The problem is also the complicated payment formula which farmers are unable to comprehend. This formula was devised by the Rangarajan Committee in 2012, which proposed decontrol of sugar and for sugar mills to pay farmers a fixed remunerative price (FRP) plus a share in its revenue, based on the publication of half-yearly ex-mill prices and values of sugar and by-products like ethanol, molasses and bagasse, which make up about 15 per cent of production.

(EOM)