Call to Lower Sugar Recovery Rate Benchmark from Sugarcane
05-Sep-2025 05:48 PM
Kalburgi. The Sugarcane Producers Federation of the western state of Karnataka has urged the Central Government to reduce the level of average recovery rate of sugar from sugarcane from the current 10.25 percent to 8.5 percent.
It is noteworthy that at present the fair and remunerative price fixed by the Central Government for sugarcane is based on the recovery rate of 10.25 percent sugar, but in the marketing season of 2024-25, this recovery rate was much below the government level, due to which the farmers did not get the expected return.
The Federation has said that the government should constitute a committee to get a bilateral agreement between sugarcane producers and sugar millers and increase the fair and remunerative price (FRP) of sugarcane on the basis of an average recovery rate of 8.50 percent.
The Federation has also urged to release the payment of outstanding pending price of sugarcane supplied to various sugar mills in Kalaburgi district during the last two years as soon as possible so that the financial condition of the farmers can improve.
The district convener of the federation says that a total of 68.87 lakh tonnes of sugarcane was received and crushed from 55,417 farmers by four sugar mills of Kalaburagi district during the seasons of 2022-23 and 2023-24. Factories have been allowed to cut prices by Rs 572 per tonne for harvesting and transporting sugarcane crop.
This is a fixed charge. But instead of this, the sugar mills cut the prices by Rs 732 per tonne. In this way, the millers cut the sugarcane price of 13,291 farmers of Kalaburagi district by an additional amount of Rs 15.96 crore.
The Federation has now urged the district administration to intervene in this matter and ensure payment of the outstanding amount of sugarcane farmers as soon as possible.
It is noteworthy that after Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra, Karnataka is the third largest producer of sugarcane and sugar in India. There has been a good increase in the sugarcane acreage there this time.