Mysugar factory throws farmers into distress

Bengaluru: Karnataka’s only government-owned sugar factory Mysugar, in Mandya, has suspended its sugarcane crushing operations this year, leaving the district’s farmers in distress. This has created difficulties for the farming community in Agriculture Minister Chaluvarayaswamy’s home district.

The Mysugar factory began its sugarcane crushing operations in August of this year, initially setting a target of crushing 2 lakh metric tons of sugarcane. It had also entered into agreements with sugarcane growers in its area. As of at the end of November, 2 lakh plus sugarcane had been crushed. However, despite remaining sugarcane in the fields, crushing operations were abruptly halted for the current year.

As per the agreement, the factory crushed the expected amount of sugarcane, earning a profit of Rs5 crore from electricity production. However, thousands of hectares of sugarcane fields still remain unharvested. With the delay in processing, the cane has started deteriorating and is losing weight, worsening the situation for farmers. In accordance with the agreement, the farmers are now unable to sell their cane to private sugar factories. The government had issued an order to prevent private mills from purchasing sugarcane from the region, further exacerbating the problem. As the factory has stopped crushing, farmers are now left with no market for their crop.

While farmers are being offered to sell their remaining cane to jaggery producers at a much lower price, private mills are not willing to buy the sugarcane from this region either. As a result, sugarcane growers, many of whom have incurred loans to cultivate the crop, are now facing significant financial losses.

The suspension of crushing at My Sugar factory has led to severe hardship for the sugarcane farmers in Mandya.

The government must take appropriate steps to address this situation and ensure that farmers are not left in such dire circumstances.