Demand for sugarcane rises in market

With the rise in demand for sugarcane in the market, private mill owners are signing bonds with farmers who have grown sugarcane. Thereby industrialists are also flouting the norm of not procuring the crop within a15-km radius from the location of sugar mill

A farmer of Daburji village here said employees of a sugar mill from a far-away district of the state had got a bond signed from him for his crop and assured that after paying the sum they would take the crop from his farms on their own. He felt happy that he would get the value of crop at his village saving him from hassles of transportation and haggling.

Although a limited number of farmers have sown sugarcane in the border districts of Amritsar, Tarn Taran, Gurdaspur and Ferozepur yet the response they are getting is tremendous.

According to Harkamaljit Singh, Reader, Department of Applied Chemical Sciences and Technology, (Sugar and Alcohol Division), Guru Nanak Dev University, the government must have announced the MSP (Rs 125 per quintal for sugarcane) a few months earlier which would have definitely encouraged farmers to go for the crop instead vicious circle of paddy and wheat.

Punjab has 22 sugar mills, including 15 cooperative and seven privately owned. Out of which border districts have five sugar mills. The district has a unit with crushing capacity of 2500 TCD (tonnes crushed per day). Tarn Taran has one unit with crushing capacity of 1,250 TCD while Gurdaspur has two sugar mills with 2500 TCD and 1500 TCD capacities each. Ferozepur has a unit of 1250 TCD.

Singh said that being a sub-tropic region 180 days of crushing was recommended for northern India. However, these mills are not able to get enough yield to meet their capacities, which led them to go for other areas for procuring enough raw material.

Unprecedented hike in petroleum products forced the government to look for alternatives to reduce the country's oil bill. According to experts ethanol could be blended in petrol and diesel upto 15 and seven per cent, respectively without change in the design of engine. They feel that in order to achieve this government has to change its policy.

Sugarcane, apart from giving sugar, provides bagasse, molasses and filter cake. Each produce has its own importance. If sugar is used for human consumption then bagasse provides electricity, molasses gives potable alcohol and power alcohol, which is ultimately blended with petrol and diesel. While filter cake is a quality organic manure.

Singh said existing technology of sugar production was three m/c boiling scheme which should be changed to two m/c boiling where distilleries could conveniently be attached to the sugar complexes from where BH molasses can be pumped into the distillery resulting in high yield of alcohol and sparkling sugar of international standard.

Besides, this scheme would get a yield of alcohol to the tune of 310-320 liters per tonnes of molasses as compared to 230- 240 liters per tonnes of molasses in 3m/c boiling. Having distillery along with sugar mills either for potable or power alcohol should be made mandatory, he said.