Rights activists and community advocates have warned about a cycle of debt that results in long days, illness and injury as workers struggle to repay their dues.
They say climate change has worsened the situation as crops fail and jobs dry up for small-scale farmers or casual agricultural workers – many migrating to find work but dwindling wages and deteriorating labor face situations.
Narayan Gaikwad, a member of the All India Kisan Sabha Kisan Sangh, which advocates for the rights of sugarcane cutters, said, “The cases of debt bondage have increased a lot in the last four to five years.”
long days, low pay
India is the world’s largest producer of sugar with a record production of 35.8 million tonnes in the year 2021-22.
According to government figures, around 50 million agricultural workers and their families are estimated to be dependent on the industry.
However, many labourers, including Nave and his wife, said that in recent years working in the sector in Kolhapur district had made their lives worse due to financial and health reasons.
For the past two harvesting seasons, Nave and his wife have taken an advance of 40,000 rupees ($490) from a labor contractor – the amount workers usually make to start in the sector.
The first year, he managed to cut around 145,000 kg of sugarcane, with a rate of pay of 275 rupees ($3.30) per 1,000 kg.
However, when their 2-year-old son fell ill with diarrhoea, the couple had to spend nearly three-quarters of that season’s salary on his treatment at a private hospital – leaving them with no choice but to return to the fields for another season. was not. ,
The couple said that incessant rains, increasing heat and cutting 14 hours a day and carrying sugarcane on their heads were affecting their health.
Nave’s wife Moni said, “If we don’t meet the target, I will have to return next year as well.”
Seema Kulkarni, a member of the Mahila Kisan Adhikar Manch (forum for the rights of women farmers), said tribal people are being paid less because they have less bargaining power.
“Tribals are occupying the places that traditional (sugarcane) cutters have temporarily left… (this) is linked to the depression of wages,” he said, with the latter increasingly migrating to better-paying farms. Were staying
Maharashtra’s labor department did not immediately respond to requests for comment about the debt bondage in the sugar sector.
Labor contractor Bagdu Bheel said dwindling sugarcane yields mean highly indebted workers are returning to the fields season after season to do “overwhelming labour”.
Bhil, a farmer from Dhule, said, “Since there is not enough sugarcane left, they (cane cutters) come back next year to repay their loan.”
‘caught in this cycle’
Dharma Bhil, who moved to Nao a few years ago with his wife to start cutting sugarcane, said the changing weather has put an end to his previous work as a tractor driver in Dhule.
“The rains are causing a lot of damage (to the crops),” said a 40-year-old tribal Bhil.
According to state data, in October 2022 alone – the month when most crops are harvested – Dhule recorded 64 mm of rain – 179 per cent of the month’s average rainfall.
“Now, I have accepted that I have to spend four to six months every year in the sugarcane fields,” added Dharma Bhil, who took an advance of about Rs 40,000 from a labor contractor and had to go back to the industry himself. due to debt.
Heavy rains after a prolonged summer drought have also cut sugarcane yields, with sugar production expected to decline by 7% this marketing year, farmers, millers and traders warned last month.
Gaikwad of the Akhil Bhartiya Kisan Sabha said dwindling harvests and an increase in sugarcane cutters meant the condition of workers in the fields would “get much worse”.
“It will leave them with very little work and no bargaining power,” he said.
Community health worker Maya Patil said she had seen many cases of sugarcane cutters taking steroid injections to treat pain and avoid taking breaks, and that there was a growing sense of hopelessness in the area – especially in hot weather during.
“I have seen many incidents of violence whenever there is a heat wave-like situation,” Patil said.
He said alcoholism is a problem among cutters, resulting in domestic abuse and violence against women and children.
But workers like Bhil and Nev say they have no option but to endure the worsening weather and labor conditions.
Nave recalled how, after his first year of sugarcane cutting in 2021, he vowed never to work in the field again.
Today he finds himself trapped in debt with no way out.
“I’m stuck in this cycle now.”