Cheated advances, mounting debt: The bitter reality for sugarcane transporters in Maharashtra

Sugarcane transporters in Maharashtra are facing a grim reality of being cheated, burdened with debt, and contemplating suicide, according to a 38-year-old farmer named Somnath Sonavane. Between 2022 and 2025, 1,953 criminal cases were registered in Pune, Kolhapur, Solapur, Satara, and Sangli districts, where sugarcane transporters lost a total of Rs 257 crore to labor contractors known as mukadams. Over half of these cases, 1,154, occurred in Kolhapur.

For these farmers, transporting sugarcane is an extension of their farming, as cultivating sugarcane may not always provide enough income. Owning a transport vehicle like a tractor or truck provides an additional income source during the crushing season. However, the system heavily depends on mukadams, who mobilize migrant sugarcane cutters, often couples or families traveling together. Transporters approach these mukadams through established contacts in the sugar belt.

The system relies on trust and a large advance from transporters to laborers, who are often forced to borrow or mortgage property to arrange the advance. When the promised labor group fails to arrive, transporters are left with loans, installments, fuel, and maintenance expenses, but no cane to transport. This has led many to borrow or mortgage property to arrange the advance, with the risk of losing both borrowed money and their own savings when the contractor disappears.

The financial risk for transporters begins even before cutting a single cane, with mills entering into contracts with transporters for cane supply and helping them obtain bank finance against vehicles and other assets. The bank earns interest, while transporters assume the risk of losing the advance if the labor group does not arrive.

This has resulted in an increase in criminal cases of cheating since 2022, with farmer leader and former MP Raju Shetti advocating for a separate law to address such fraud and recover the money.