Overview
- Shivakumar visited farmers in Kittur, Belagavi on Saturday and appealed to them to suspend their padayatra while he arranges a meeting of farmers, mill owners and Central officials after Dasara.
- The Union government has set up a committee to examine demands for higher payments to growers and a revision of the minimum selling price of sugar.
- Protest leaders are asking for a revised sugar price of ₹60 per kg and ₹5,500 per tonne of cane while current minimum selling rules have kept sugar at about ₹31 per kg since 2019.
- Mill owners say rising production costs, higher electricity bills and tight finances limit their ability to pay more, so the government plans joint talks to balance farmer incomes with mill viability.
- The dispute highlights a key policy gap between the Centre's Fair and Remunerative Price for growers and the State Advised Price that Karnataka has not announced, which officials say must be resolved in the planned multi‑party meeting.