Sugar factories not charitable institutions: Minister

Excise minister Satish Jarkiholi said on Saturday that sugar factories are not “charitable institutions” when it comes to  providing farmers the remuneration of Rs 2,500 per tonne of sugar cane.

Jarkiholi has made the statement at a time when there is an effort within the government to ensure that sugar factories pay their dues to the farmers. He said that sugar factories are business houses and they cannot give more remuneration to the growers.

“Farmers should receive fair remunerations for their produce. But can you treat sugar factories as charitable trusts?” he said, while interacting with the media. The minister, whose family owns sugar factories, said that the premise for paying the remuneration for sugar cane is the prevailing rates of sugar.

“Last year, when the government announced that sugar cane farmers should receive Rs 2,500 per tonne, the prevailing rate of sugar was Rs 2,900 per tonne. Later it rose to Rs 3,200 per tonne. But now the rates have crashed with the prevailing rate of sugar being Rs 2,450 per tonne. Just because the farmers must receive Rs 2,500 per tonne of sugarcane, should all sugar factory owners suffer losses?” he said.

Jarkiholi, who was earlier into sugar business, said, “I have tried to bring both the sides for talks. The government has an open mind and is trying to address the problems,” he added.

On being told that sugar factories make additional income by way of selling byproducts of sugar, Jarkiholi said that the factory owners cannot depend on them for their livlihood. He said that till date, 70 per cent of the income of factory owners is dependent on sugar. He said there is an excess of 25 lakh tonnes of sugar in the country, which has resulted in the rates crashing.

Alternative crops

He recommended that sugar cane farmers, in the present climate of the sugar market, must consider growing alternative crops to come out of the debt trap. Jarkiholi appealed to the State government to send a proposal to the Centre for providing assistance to the sugar factory owners, as has been done in Maharashtra recently.

Meanwhile, BJP leaders Jagadish Shettar and Suresh Kumar lashed out at Jarkiholi for making an “irresponsible” statement, despite being part of the government.