Sugar farmers' agitation may hit Maharashtra target

The Maharashtra sugar industry fears that agitation by various farmers' organisations may delay the sugar season and the state may not be able to achieve its target output of 70 lakh tonne sugar at the end of the season.

In Maharashtra, the sugarcane crushing season usually starts in the second or the third week of October. But because of the agitation by Sharad Joshi-led Shetkari Sanghatana in western Maharashtra and Marathwada, and independent MLA Raju Shetty-headed Swabhimani Shetkari Sanghatana (SSS) in southern Maharashtra, only 54 of the state's total 154 sugar factories have been able to start their crushing season so far.

This year, Maharashtra had a bumper sugar crop "� of almost 670 lakh tonne "� indicating 150 per cent surge over 445 lakh tonne clocked last year.

"If we lose another 10 days because of the agitation, the crushing season will extend till May, and this means a reduction in recoveries and losses to both farmers and sugar co-operatives," said Prakash Naiknavare, managing director, Maharashtra State Sugar Co-operative Federation (MSSCF).

At the beginning of the crushing season, the state government announced to have fixed Rs 850 a tonne as minimum support price (MSP), but farmers did not accept it and, under various organisations, launched agitation demanding the MSP to be settled between Rs 1,800 and Rs 2,000.

MSSCF said it was worried because a majority of the factories in Kolhapur, Sangli and Satara could not begin their crushing season yet owing to the strong protest launched by SSS. So far, only 13 of the 41 factories in these three districts have been able to start their operations.

These districts together are considered the sugar bowl of Maharashtra as their recovery percentage often exceeds 12 per cent, while the average recovery for the entire state is between 11 and 12 per cent.

Ranghunath Dada Patil, state president, Shetkari Sanghatana, claimed that not a single factory is working in the state right now and will not be able to operate unless "our demands are met".

"If situation so demands, our leader Sharad Joshi will go on an indefinite hunger strike from November 16," he added.

Patil further said, "if our demands are not met within a week, we might start the second phase of our agitation in the form of rasta roko, rail roko, locking up the government offices etc."

Naiknavare said, "Shetkari Sanghatana has taken the extreme step of not coming even to the negotiating table. But with SSS we already had two rounds of talks, and the third round will take place on coming Saturday. We are confident of arriving at an agreement and start production at the factories in southern districts of the state."