Sugar industry

Firstly, sugar cane is a long-term crop which generally requires eighteen months to grow from plantation to harvesting.

Secondly, the profit margin in plantation as well as in crushing mills is not attractive.

Thirdly, the variety constraint leads to low recovery of sugar from sugar cane in our country.

Fourthly, the introduction of sugar cane varieties by the national research centre at Iswardi has not been that successful. These varieties are vulnerable to pests.

Fifthly, by-products of sugar cane industries are not being used in a lucrative way like other advanced countries.

We are very much worried about the fate of the sugar industry as the government has invested a huge amount of money in this sector. These industries saved a lot of foreign exchange and, in fact, helped to use the so-called barren land of northern and southern Bengal. Mechanised cultivation has to be re-introduced to give impetus to the marginal sugar cane growers. Incentive should be given to the growers, who grow inter-crops specially onion and pulse etc. along with sugar cane. Employees in the sugar mills should be asked to produce sugar cane in their own fields for the sake of their services and for over-all development of these industries. Variety constraint must be overcome with the assistance of sugar cane experts. If necessary help may be sought in this respect from the neighbouring countries. The rate of per acre yield is not promising . So improvement in this area is a must through adoption of some technological devices. This is the only industry which is giving employment to a large group of people, irrespective of disciplines, especially the agricultural graduates. As a result, the agricultural graduates are contributing much to the rural economy, as most of the sugar mills are located in the remotest places of the country.

As such, the benefits of the sugar industry have to be assessed in the light of sugar, molasses, animal feed, forest and fish production and overall development of human resources.