Sugarcane growers seek FRP of ₹4,500

The Karnataka Sugarcane Growers’ Association has urged Union Food Minister Pralhad Joshi to take the requisite steps to increase the Fair and Remunerative Price (FRP) of sugarcane to at least ₹4,500 a tonne, citing drought, rising input and labour costs, and declining yields.

Addressing presspersons in Hubballi on Thursday, association State president Kurubur Shanthakumar said sugarcane farmers were facing severe financial stress due to deficient rainfall and the increasing expenditure on fertilizers, labour, and cultivation.

He said the present system of determining the FRP payment based on sugar recovery from cane supplied by farmers in the previous year was “unscientific” and unfair. He demanded that the system be changed immediately.