Swabhimani Shetkari Sanghatana president Raju Shetti has stepped up his agitation for higher sugar and ethanol prices, asking cooperative sugar factories to suspend cane crushing until the Centre decides on farmers’ key demands.Shetti, a former MP, and his organisation have spent the past few days on the roads of western Maharashtra, stopping cane transport to the mills. On Tuesday, he led a blockade of the Pune-Bengaluru national highway that lasted 32 hours. He has since been visiting cooperative mills in Karnataka, Satara, Sangli and neighbouring areas, urging management to hold back operations.On Thursday, party activists occupied weighbridges at several prominent factories in Sangli and Satara districts in a ‘Kaata Band’ (weighbridge shutdown) agitation. Shetti said the chimneys would not be lit until the Centre raises the minimum selling price (MSP) of sugar. Although the crushing season has officially begun, most mills have yet to start.Shetti wants the MSP of sugar raised from the present Rs 31 per kg (Rs 3,100 per quintal) to Rs 50 per kg (Rs 5,000 per quintal). He also wants the price of ethanol made from C-heavy molasses increased to Rs 70 per litre. Paying farmers better would be feasible only with a higher sugar MSP and ethanol procurement prices, he said.The MSP, the floor price at which mills can legally sell sugar in the wholesale market, has stayed at Rs 31 per kg since February 2019, even as cane procurement costs have risen.On Wednesday, the Centre set up a committee headed by professor Ramesh Chand, a former NITI Aayog member, to examine the demand for higher payments to cane growers and a revision of the sugar MSP. The panel will look at cultivation costs and the financial health of mills.Shetti said mills had started crushing under government pressure, even though they knew that processing immature cane hurts both farmers and factories. He criticised them for staying silent while the MSP remained frozen. “This year, farmers are in a decisive battle on the streets against the Centre’s unjust policies,” he told the Indian Express. A higher MSP, he argued, would benefit mill owners even more than farmers, so they should openly back the movement and resist political and official pressure. Any mill that chooses to operate, he warned, would bear the full responsibility for the losses that follow.Story continues below this ad Swabhimani Shetkari Sanghatana activists and farmers led by Raju Shetti gather on Thursday under heavy police presence. (Express Photo)Shivaji Mane, founder of the Jai Shivray Kisan Sanghatana, said, “The input costs had climbed because of costlier fertilisers, linked to the West Asia conflict, along with higher labour costs and erratic weather. So we seek a sugar MSP of Rs 55 per kg.”Mane also questioned the fair and remunerative price (FRP) for the 2026-27 season, fixed at Rs 3,650 per tonne for a basic recovery rate of 10.25 per cent, and said the recovery rate had been inflated and should revert to 8.5 per cent in the interest of farmers.Millers support the price demands but not necessarily the shutdown. Speaking to the Indian Express, Bhairavnath Thombare, chairperson of the Western India Sugar Mills Association (WISMA), said, “We support Shetti’s call for an MSP hike and appreciate his efforts to take the issue to the Centre. With the sugar MSP at Rs 31 per kg and the sugarcane FRP at Rs 3,650 per tonne, mills cannot survive or pay farmers adequately without an increase in both sugar and ethanol prices.”But Thombare cautioned that a delay in crushing would hurt farmers as well. He said, “Maharashtra’s sugar output could fall by nearly 20 per cent, as drought has hit the majority of regions of the state except some parts in Satara, Sangli and Kolhapur. In Marathwada, 40-50 per cent of the cane is drying up and losing weight, and some mills elsewhere have begun harvesting such cane on priority. I urge farmer organisations to let mills start while continuing to press their other demands.”Story continues below this adA Kolhapur-based miller said mills there also supported higher MSP and ethanol rates, adding that rising power tariffs too needed review. His mill had not yet begun crushing but planned to start within a week, he said, and he felt that mills should start now, since water shortages are expected in the coming months and early harvesting would help.