Remunerative price for sugarcane from centre will not benefit farmers

in Karnataka-Sugarcane Cultivators Association. The Centre’s decision to revise the fair and remunerative price (FRP) for sugarcane from Rs. 2,550 per tonne to Rs. 2,750 per tonne for 2018-19 has left the sugarcane cultivators in Karnataka impressed. Though this is seemingly a significant increase in the procurement price that will benefit the farmers, the Sugarcane Cultivators’ Association has pointed out that there is a rider associated with the hike like the FRP is linked to a base sugar recovery rate of 10 per cent as against 9.5 per cent which existed all these years. And this goes against a majority of the farmers in the region where the recovery rate is low. Kurubur Shanthakumar, President, Sugarcane Cultivators Association, told that earlier the FRP was Rs. 2,550 for a sugar recovery rate of 9.5 per cent