ARTICLE 4 #CaneFarmers

Sugar mills across several regions are reportedly scaling down the number of procurement centers due to ongoing delays in payments to sugarcane farmers. According to industry sources, mills struggling with liquidity issues have found it increasingly difficult to clear dues to growers on time.

Tension gripped parts of western Maharashtra, particularly the Kolhapur and Sangli districts, as sugarcane farmers staged protests demanding higher payments for their produce ahead of the 2025-26 crushing season.

For ESY 2025-26, the government has issued a tender for about 10.50 billion litres of ethanol supply. In that total, only 289 crore litres (2.89 billion litres) have been allocated to ethanol produced from sugar-based feedstocks (sugarcane juice, B-heavy molasses, etc) — about 28% of the requirement.