Farmers Stage Protest Demanding Higher Sugarcane Prices at Mylara Sugars Factory

Hoovina Hadagali (Vijayanagara District): Farmers are demanding that sugar mills fix the price of sugarcane at Rs 3,500 per ton, leading to an all-night protest at the Mylara Sugars factory in Birabbi on Friday. The farmers halted the crushing of sugarcane at the factory and continued their demonstration.

Tehsildar G. Santosh Kumar and CPI leader Deepak Boosareddy attempted to persuade the farmers to end their protest, citing that the state government has revised the sugarcane price to Rs 3,300. However, the protesting farmers have firmly stated that they will not stop until their demands are met.

The farmers prepared food at the protest site and invited devotional music groups to perform bhajana until 4 a.m., actively engaging in nighttime vigils. Kodabala Hanumantappa, president of the Ratna Bharat Farmers Society, remarked, “Chief Minister Siddaramaiah is holding meetings in Bangalore with factory owners and farmer leaders, but the decisions made are centered on Belagavi and Vijayapura, where the sugarcane yield is above 11 tons.

In our regions of Vijayanagara, Gadag, and Haveri, the yield is below 9 tons, so we will not receive the ₹3,300 price. The maximum support price should be set based on our region’s average recovery rate.”

Hanumantappa further added, “There was no mention of districts with lower sugarcane yields in the meeting led by the Chief Minister. Therefore, we will continue our protest until the district administration and sugar factory owners guarantee a fair price for our sugarcane.”

Many prominent leaders and members of the sugarcane growers’ association, including Bennur Halesha, Muddi Mahendraappa, H.D. Jaggin, Puneeth Doddamani, Basavaraj, H. Manjunatha, Ashok Balaganu, H. Praveen, Ambali Prakash, Mallappa Kodabala, and Pakkareshchetru Yalagachina, participated in the protest.

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