Hubballi: Kurabur Shantakumar, the president of the State Sugarcane Growers Association has alleged that the sugarcane crushing units were providing erroneous information about sugar recovery and this had resulted in lower prices for the produce.
Speaking to reporters in Hubballi, Shantakumar said that the sugarcane crushing units were showing recovery percentage at 10-11 against the actual percentage of 11.50-13. They have resorted to such practices after the SAP Act came into force two years ago. If the sugar recovery percentage was lowered by a minimum of 1.50, the growers will lose Rs. 400 per tonne. Unfortunately, the government is admitting their report, he said. The growers have urged the government to have its own mechanism for the purpose. The government too has agreed to form an expert committee to look into the matter, it should be done at the earliest, he said.
About the minimum price for sugarcane, Shantakumar said that the committee formed to fix the prices had failed to come to any conclusion even after meeting twice. While fixing minimum price, the state government should not fix the price below Rs 3,200, he said.
Last year, 64 units crushed a total of two crore tonnes of sugarcane. This year too, the same quantity of sugarcane is expected to be crushed. Already, 18 units have crushed 25 lakh tonnes of sugarcane till this date, he said.
