Farmers assemble in Belagavi to demand hike in sugarcane MSP

Belagavi: A two-day protest was staged by the sugarcane growers on the premises of the Belagavi DC office to halt sugarcane crushing by factories without fixing the price in Bagalkot, Belagavi Vijayapura and other parts of north Karnataka. All the sugar factories in Athani sub-division have been shut down by sugarcane growers for the past two weeks, demanding Rs 2,900 per tonne of cane which they supplied to the factories last season. The sugarcane growers in Athani sub-division refused to accept the given price of Rs 2,000 to Rs 2,300 per tonne which factories offered.