Chamarajanagara: Sugarcane growers are facing one or the other difficulty. Now that sugarcane has been harvested, there is a situation where there are no labourers. There are no workers available locally and they are dependent on outsiders.
Though sugarcane has already been grown at a cost of lakhs of rupees. Thus, harvesting and transporting it to a sugar factory has become a challenging task. Earlier, workers were available locally but now there is labour problem. Even if they get labourers locally, they are asking for higher wages. Even labourers are hired from faraway places, they are demanding Rs. 800 to Rs. 1,000 per tonne of sugarcane without agreeing to the daily wages. As a result, the poor farmers who have grown sugarcane are struggling. Earlier, Rs. 450 was paid for harvesting a tonne of sugarcane. But now the hike has left the growers worried.
With the opening of Kunturu Sugar Factory in Chamarajanagara, sugarcane farmers have come forward to transport sugarcane. However, timely harvesting and transportation has become a problem. As a result, most of them have been forced to call labourers from far-flung areas of Ballari and Koppal. They are being called through mediators. It is alleged that the factory owners are currently paying Rs. 2,500 per tonne even though the price of sugarcane is Rs. 2,954 per tonne, including the fair price (FRP) fixed by the Central Government for the sugarcane to be harvested and transported to the factory.
Now the farmers are in distress as the expired sugarcane has to be harvested immediately. Some of the mediators are misusing this time to increase the wage rate. But with no other option, the farmers are forced to harvest at double the wages. It is sad that the farmers are in such a precarious state.
