Sugarcane cutters lose work as mills mechanise. Lata Waghmar was 6 months pregnant when she cut her last bundle of sugarcane in Beed, Maharashtra. She returned to work 5 days after giving birth. Today, she is out of work.
Waghmar is one of nearly 10 lakh migrant sugarcane cutters from 13 districts of Maharashtra. For decades they migrated to western Maharashtra and Karnataka every crushing season, working 16-hour days for less than ₹80,000 a season.
That system is ending. Sugar mills are buying mechanical harvesters to deal with labour shortages and rising wages. Industry data shows 3,218 harvesters were operational in India as of Dec 2025. In Maharashtra alone, 40 lakh farmers now rely on machines for one-third of sugar production.
The shift was accelerated by a 2025 Bombay High Court ruling that forced the state to provide basic rights to cutters — toilets, drinking water, wages. Mills say it’s cheaper to buy machines than comply.
For cutters, it’s a crisis. Most are from drought-prone Marathwada. Sugarcane cutting was their only income source. “Once you leave here, surviving is difficult,” says Waghmar, who now does farm jobs in her village.
Activists argue this is about more than efficiency. “Sugar mills were never responsible for workers’ welfare,” says Manisha Tokle of Sugarcane Cutters Union. “Now they use mechanisation to avoid responsibility.
”The state government says it is promoting mechanisation to modernise agriculture. But there is no plan for rehabilitation. No skilling, no alternative jobs.
The industry employs 2 lakh factory workers and supports 40 lakh farmers. But for the cutters, the future is bleak. As one contractor put it: “Machines don’t need rest. They don’t ask for advances.” Maharashtra’s sugar economy is moving to machines. The question is what happens to the people who built it.