Farmers Movement Archive

Shetti demands addl Rs 200/tonne for sugar farmers

Kolhapur: Farmers will not allow factories to sell sugar unless they pay fair and remunerative price (FRP) and additional Rs 200 per tonne to compensate for the losses incurred due to increase in harvesting charges of sugar cane cutters, Swabhimani Shetkari Sanghatana (SSS) leader Raju Shetti said on Monday. Over, the new farm bills passed by Parliament recently, Shetti said the farmers demand mention of compulsory payment to farmers as per the MSP and this should be included in the new law. The outfit held its annual ‘Us Parishad’ (sugar council) meeting of farmers online for the first time to push their demand. The meeting was live-streamed across various social media platforms and hundreds of farmers participated in it from far away places. “The farmers will hit the streets on November 5 against the new farm laws, which do not make it mandatory for corporates to pay MSP for their produce. Our outfit will be participating in the protest. We will block roads and highways across the region for at least two hours,” said Shetti. Spelling out his organisation’s demands, the former MP said, “We want payment to the farmers not less than FRP fixed by the central government and that too in one instalment. We also demand additional Rs 200 per tonne to compensate the loss of farmers towards payment of labour cost to the cutters.” Shetti said the additional money can be paid after the sugar cane harvesting season ends in March. “If the factories fail to pay, we will not let them sell sugar. We will block movement of sugar from godowns.” Shetti demanded that the price of sugar in the open market should be increased from Rs 31 per kg to Rs 35, saying that it will ensure factories get good returns and help them pay farmers as per FRP rates.

The Times of India

2020-11-03

Kolhapur