Kolhapur,Sangli mills to start cane crushing

So far in Sangli three mills out of 17 have agreed to Rs 1,900 rate,but in Kolhapur only one mill has agreed so far out of the 21 mills. But farmers associations are optimistic that a compromise will soon be reached and harvest and crushing can be expected to start by next week.

FRP is inclusive of transport and labour costs incurred by farmers as the legislation says farmers have to deliver the cane at the crushing site.

As per the FRP fixed by the state,for a recovery rate of more than 9.5 per cent,an additional Rs 146 per metric tonne is to be given to farmers. The FRP system was adopted after the legistation was passed in October 2009.

Raju Shetty,MP from Hatkanagale,and president,Swabhimani Shetkari Sangathna said,“The methodology used for calculating FRP is not correct. Farmers are not getting a fair deal in the FRP system as the government wants to steer clear of the issue saying FRP is a minimum price and farmers can negotiate with mills for a higher price. In reality,the negotiation never happens. Farmers never get a share of the profits earned from byproducts like ethanol,fertilisers and so on.”

Pradeep Nikam,a farmer from Satara said,“Kolhapur and Sangli farmers should get a better price as the recovery there is as high as 14 per cent. From one tonne of cane about 20 kg of sugarcane be obtained. In Sangli it is 13 per cent and in Satara it is about 11 per cent.”

Official figures from the sugar commssionerate so far only 12.50 lakh tonnes of cane has been crushed while the target till October was of 50 lakh tonnes. As a surplus crop is expected this year,crushing of the estimated 825 lakh tonnes by the end of the sugarseason till May 2011 prove to be herculean task. So far only 62 factories have started crushing cane.

The commissionerate expects that by the end of the season about 161 will be functional.