Coimbatore: With yet another harvest season around the corner, sugarcane farmers in the state are worried about low prices and delayed payment by sugar companies.
While the Union government had hiked the fair and remunerative (minimum) price of sugarcane by Rs100 per tonne to Rs2,850 from Rs2,750 last August, farmers in the state say the hike doesn’t make much difference and they will get only Rs2,707.50 going by a sucrose content of 9.5%.
K Ramu, a farmer from Sivaganga, says the new fair and remunerative price of R2,850 per tonne was applicable only to the produce with a sucrose content of 10%. “The sucrose content of the sugarcane that we grow is usually 9.5% or less. Sugar companies deduct Rs12.50 for every 0.1% drop in sucrose content.”
Ramu has given up on sugarcane after 30 years of cultivation as it has become unviable. “While the current rate is higher by Rs95 from Rs2612.5 last year, it is still Rs300 less than our minimum requirements.”
Pointing out that it is a labour-intensive crop, D Mohanakumar, a farmer from Dharmapuri, says, “We have to constantly remove the thick leaves and branches, which would otherwise reduce sucrose content. We need to employ at least 18 labourers for a week for harvesting alone by shelling out around Rs84,000. If we have a badly maintained farm, labourers will charge up to Rs750 a day.”
According to farmers, they also spend around Rs3,000 on manure and pesticides per acre to ensure a yield of 40 to 50 tonnes from an acre.
T Subramaniam, a farmer from Erode, says, “Harvest, which begins in January, becomes more expensive in February and March. Only the farmers who don’t depend on sugarcane solely for their income and those who hadn’t taken loans for cultivation could sustain with the current rate.”
Another major issue that farmers face is transportation of the produce. “While sugar companies pay for the transport, we have to pay the drivers and assistants to bribe the cops on the way. Usually, the produce is weighed only at the sugar companies and we have to go by what they say,” says S Subramaniam, another farmer from Erode.
Referring to the delay in payments, Mohanakumar, who supplies to Subramania Siva Co-op Mill, says it takes three to nine months for the sugar companies to settle the same. This has forced many farmers to supply the produce to sugarcane juice companies.
Diriviyam, a farmer from Coimbatore, says, “These companies come to my farm and harvest the sugarcane, which they load onto vehicles and transport themselves. I don’t incur any expenses at all. They also weigh the produce in front of me and pay me Rs3,000 per tonne.”
Sugar companies admit that Rs2707.5 is low for farmers. “But sugar price is also low. We are forced to pay for at least 9.5% sucrose content, when most of the sugarcane we get has lower sucrose content than that. So, we can’t afford to pay more than the fair and remunerative price,” says a representative of a Karur-based private sugar mill.