Agitating farmers on Thursday set tires alight at Afzalpur in Kalaburagi district demanding a price of ₹3,500 per tonne of sugarcane. | Photo credit: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT
As a protest by sugarcane growers demanding a fair and remunerative price (FRP) of ₹3,500 per tonne in the state’s northern sugarcane turned the heat on the government, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Thursday blamed the Center for the problem and wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking an urgent meeting with him.
In a letter released to the press, the chief minister sought to alert the prime minister about the ongoing agitation by sugarcane growers in North Karnataka, particularly in Belagavi, Bagalkote, Vijayapura, Vijayanagara, Bidar, Gadag, Hubli-Dharwad and Haveri districts.
He pointed out that the FRP set by the central government for the 2025-26 season is ₹3,550 per tonne with a base rate of 10.25%. “However, after deducting the mandatory harvesting and transport (H&T) costs, which are between ₹800 and ₹900 per tonne, the effective payment received by the farmer is only about ₹2,600 to ₹3,000 per tonne. But due to the sharp rise in the cost of sugar cultivation, labour, irrigation and irrigation, this structure has non-depreciated transport,” he said.
He argued that central policy levers, the FRP formula, stagnant Minimum Support Price (MSP) for sugar, restrictions on sugar exports and underutilized ethanol offtake from sugar-based feedstocks are at the root of the problem.
Pointing out that it was the Center that had the power to revise the FRP, he argued that the state only had the powers to ensure sugar mills followed the FRP norms.
“To respond constructively, we request the Union government to immediately allow a central notification to enable states to fix or approve the net price for farmers after H&T or direct mills to absorb H&T so that ₹3,500/t net volume can be achieved,” he said. The letter also demanded recalibration of FRP calculation linked to rate of return, revision of MSP for sugar above ₹31 per kg, export window to relieve mills of unsold stocks, increased ethanol allocation and ensure procurement of sugar-based capacity in Karnataka.
Today’s meetings
Earlier at a press conference in Bengaluru, the Chief Minister announced that he will hold separate meetings with representatives of protesting farmers and sugar mill owners on Friday in Bengaluru to discuss the demands of the farmers as well as issues related to the sugar sector.
He said the decision to write to the Prime Minister was taken at the state cabinet meeting on Thursday.
State offer
Ministers and district officials have managed to convince sugar mills to offer FRPs of ₹3,200 per tonne at a sugar recovery percentage of 11.25 and ₹3,100 at a sugar recovery percentage of 10.25, he said. This will be tabled before the meeting of farmers’ representatives on Friday, Mr. Siddaramaiah said.
The chief minister expressed concern over the Center raising the sugar yield percentage to 10.25 from the level of 9.5 during the earlier NDA regime for fixing the FRP. This would affect states like Karnataka which had a low sugar recovery percentage unlike Maharashtra which had a high recovery percentage, he said.
He claimed that though Karnataka produced 271 million liters of ethanol annually, the Center allowed oil companies to buy only 47 million liters from the state. While this would mean that only 17.4% of Karnataka’s ethanol production could be sold to oil companies, Gujarat was allowed to sell 77.5% of its ethanol production, the chief minister said, hinting at a biased approach.
He said opposition parties in Karnataka are trying to mislead innocent farmers by blaming the state government for low FRP. He appealed to farmers not to fall prey to politicization.
He urged the protesting farmers to drop their protests on national and state highways as it would affect the general public and instead attend the meeting.
Published – 06 Nov 2025 22:24 IST
