Karnataka’s Sugarcane Farmers Face Off With the State Over Cane Prices

26 October 2026, Belagavi: Thousands of sugarcane growers across Karnataka are watching Belagavi today, where Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar is holding a high-stakes meeting with farmer representatives and sugar mill owners at Suvarna Soudha to try to resolve weeks of unrest over cane pricing, with farmer leaders warning of a state-wide bandh, or shutdown, on October 27 if the talks fail to produce a satisfactory outcome.

The meeting brings together four farmer representatives from each of Karnataka’s 15 sugarcane-growing districts, along with district collectors, elected representatives, and delegates from 81 sugar mills, according to local administration briefings reported by trade outlet ChiniMandi. Union Minister Pralhad Joshi, whose Hubballi residence farmers had earlier threatened to march on, is not attending, reportedly at his own request that the state hold its meeting first before a separate Union-level discussion follows.

Weeks of Highway Blockades Preceded Today’s Talks

The standoff has been building since late September and escalated through October into sustained highway blockades across roughly ten districts, including Belagavi, Bagalkot, Vijayapura, Kalaburagi, Koppal, Haveri, Dharwad, Mandya, Mysuru and Chamarajanagar, according to reporting by Siasat. Farmers blocked National Highway 48 near toll plazas in Belagavi for more than a day, disrupted the Dharwad bypass for over 11 hours, and blocked a highway in Kalaburagi overnight. In one widely reported incident, a young farmer climbed a blocked toll structure in an apparent attempt at self-harm; police intervened and took him into custody unharmed. Farmer leaders had given the Union government a two-day deadline to respond before threatening to escalate to a full state shutdown.

At the centre of the dispute is price. Farmer unions are demanding Rs 5,500 a tonne for cane in the 2026-27 crushing season, which protest leaders in the Belagavi area have broken down as roughly Rs 4,500 a tonne from sugar mills plus a Rs 1,000 a tonne top-up support price from the state government, according to statements carried by regional wire reports. That is well above the Fair and Remunerative Price (FRP) of Rs 365 a quintal, or Rs 3,650 a tonne, that the Union Cabinet approved as the national floor price for the 2026-27 season. Farmer groups are additionally pressing for a State Advised Price above the FRP, implementation of the Swaminathan Commission’s farmer-income recommendations, a higher minimum sale price for sugar, central government procurement of ethanol produced from Karnataka’s cane juice and molasses, and an end to what farmers allege are unfair weight deductions by mills for moss and field debris during cane weighing.

For mills, a jump to Rs 5,500 a tonne, roughly 51% above the FRP, would sharply raise raw material costs just as the crushing season gets underway, raising the risk that mills delay or slow cane intake if no settlement is reached, which would leave standing cane deteriorating in the field. That risk is part of why today’s meeting carries weight beyond Karnataka’s borders: the state is among India’s major sugarcane-growing states, and a prolonged standoff during the start of crushing could affect how much raw cane gets processed on schedule this season.

Karnataka’s cane belt is also a significant market for agricultural inputs, from nitrogen and potash fertilizers to biostimulants and pest control products used on ratoon and newly planted cane, so mill-farmer price disputes that drag on tend to delay input purchasing decisions as growers wait to see what price, and therefore what margin, they will actually receive this season. A resolution or a breakdown today will shape sentiment in that input market well into the new year, and will be watched closely by sugar traders globally given India’s position as one of the world’s largest sugar producers, consumers and exporters, where any domestic supply disruption can move international sugar and ethanol prices.

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