Sugarcane in Karnataka is expected to touch 300 lakh tonnes during 2008-09 against 400 lakh tonnes last year.Minister for Sugar and Agricultural Marketing reported that nearly 20 lakh tonnes of cane will be available for crushing in sugar factories while the remaining will go for jaggery production. Erratic monsoon starting from heavy downpour to long dry spell in several districts were the main reasons for the roughly 25 per cent fall in cane cultivation.
Taking exception to the Centre's decision of fixing a minimum support price of Rs 811.50 per tonne, the same as last year, despite a steep hike in the cost of cultivation, he said the state government had asked sugar factories in north and south Karnataka to pay Rs 1,200 and Rs 1,100 per tonne respectively.
The growers have been demanding Rs. 1,550 a tonne of sugarcane, the price recommended to the Centre by the Commission for Agricultural Cost and Price (CACP) for nine per cent recovery of sugar per tonne of cane.During the President rule in the State, Governor Rameshwar Thakur had announced a bail-out package and granted an additional Rs. 160 per tonne to farmers last year with the total amounting to Rs. 370 crore.
No comments:
Post a Comment