Sugarcane farmers have urged the State Government to bring sugarcane cultivation and sugar factories’ operations under a digital infrastructure.
Addressing a press conference here on Tuesday, President of Karnataka Sugarcane Growers Association Kurubur Shanthakumar cited the use of E Ganna app by the farmers and sugar factories in Uttar Pradesh that has helped the farmers receive their dues within 14 days of supplying sugarcane to the factories.
After downloading the app on their mobiles and registering themselves, the farmers need to upload details such as the extent of area under sugarcane cultivation and date of sowing on the app. After all the farmers upload the details, the calendar for harvesting and transporting sugarcane to the factories is shared with them through the app.
The harvesting date is fixed as per seniority and the farmers are given three to four days’ time for cutting and transporting the sugarcane to the factories. After the produce reaches the factory, the same is weighed and a message is sent to the farmer. The same message also goes to the Government, which releases payment to the farmers within 14 days, Mr. Shanthakumar said.
The Government recovers the payment made to the farmers as about 80 per cent of the proceeds of the sugar, ethanol and molasses sold by the sugar factories goes to the Government, Mr. Shanthakumar said.
In Karnataka, the sugar factories delay the payment to farmers by three months to five months. Also, the Fair and Remunerative Price (FRP) fixed by the Government in Karnataka was only ₹ 2,900 per tonne against the ₹ 3,500 per tonne fixed by the Government in Uttar Pradesh, he claimed.
The establishment of digital infrastructure for sugarcane industry will also ensure higher recovery rate and more transparency. In the absence of a co-ordinated calendar for harvesting, the sugarcane transported by the farmers will have to wait for days outside the sugar factories, leading to a dip in recovery rate. If there is no delay in the crushing process after harvesting, the recovery rate of sugar is also high, Mr. Shanthakumar reasoned.
Mr. Shanthakumar was part of a delegation of sugarcane growers, representatives of sugar factories and officials of the Directorate of Sugarcane Development and Sugar, Government of Karnataka, who recently visited Uttar Pradesh.
Apart from visiting a sugar factory and ethanol plant in Kanpur, the delegation also visited the Indian Institute of Sugarcane Research in Lucknow.
