COIMBATORE: Despite a bumper crop promising high yields this season, soaring labour costs driven by an acute shortage of workers during the peak sugarcane cutting season have eaten into farmers' margins and forced a reduction in cultivated acreage over the years.
“An acute labour shortage has sharply driven up costs, with cutting a single tonne of sugarcane now costing as much as Rs 1,500, significantly eroding profits even in a bumper harvest year. As a result, the acreage under cane cultivation has been declining year after year. This season alone, the cultivated area has fallen by nearly 10 per cent, as many farmers have shifted to alternative crops such as coconut and arecanut. We have been urging the state government to fix cutting charges to protect the livelihoods of cane farmers,” said S. Nalla Gounder, vice-president of the Tamil Nadu Sugarcane Farmers Association.
In its last election manifesto, the state government had promised a minimum support price of Rs 4,000 per tonne, but the assurance remains unimplemented so far. Similarly, the centre announced a Fair and Remunerative Price (FRP) of Rs 3,550 per tonne for the current cane crushing season, based on a sugar recovery rate of 10.25 per cent.
However, farmers in Tamil Nadu are receiving a lower FRP as the sugar recovery rate remains below nine per cent, fetching only about Rs 3,290 per tonne. “We have demanded that the FRP be fixed at Rs 5,000 per tonne,” say farmers.
Owing to labour shortage, workers are being brought in from northern states, but agents facilitating their employment also demand higher charges, further pushing up costs. Meanwhile, sugarcane yields in Tamil Nadu have declined to 35–45 tonnes per acre from about 60 tonnes until a few years ago.
