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Sugar industry faces grim situation: Sharad Pawar
Bangalore, Mar 10 Sugar sector in India is in dire straits followed increased global production with huge stocks starking the industry Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar said today.
Besides China, which was competing in the field has decided to set up 37 plants which could produce 35,000 tonnes per day. ''All these leads to the conclusion that Sugar industry is in dire situation in India'' he added.
The country faced such a situation once in two years and unless the country adopted technology to produce ethnol out of cane, the industry would continue to suffer as the sugar production was scaling new high every year during the last one decade.
Mr Pawar also called for reducing pressure on agricultural land. The pressure has increased to 300 per cent from 62 per cent before independence since food requirement had to be met in accordance with growing population. ''Farm labours can be imparted training in other sectors like service, social etc and per acre production can be increased through intensive mechanisation as it was done in other countries like the US, the UK, Japan'' he said adding that this would be a big challenge before us.
He said that fragmentation of farmland holding was another problem faced since small farmers neither gets finance nor better price for their produce.
He said that the sugar industry in general and its Scientists and Engineer in particular owe great responsibility to find sustainable solutions to safeguard the workmen and keep the environment clean to the best possible extent from the ill effects of hazards faced from Sugar cane industries.
The Agriculture Minister sounded a warning signal stating that mechanisation of sugar cane cultivation and crushing should not be aimed at displacing of the manual labourers, but man and machine both have to compliment each other and rather help increasing the productivity of human labour and efficiency of other inputs.
He said that besides quantum of production of sugar, another aspect to be considered seriously was improving quality "The quality of our produce in general does not have easy access to markets in European countries. It is therefore, imperative that concerted efforts be made by all concerned to improve quality of sugar cane and sugar".
''It is an accepted fact that until and unless the field and factory personnel go hand in hand for quality improvement, production of quality sugar acceptable to international market shall remain a distant dream'', he added.
Karnataka Minister for Science and Technology Ramachandregowda, speaking on the occasion, stressed the need for adopting Water Management technique in sugar cane cultivation to overcome water shortage faced at present.
Minister for Rural Water Supply and Sanitation and Sugar, in his presidential address, urged the Centre to direct the Food Corporation of India (FCI) to procure Sugar and stock as it was done in case of Wheat and Rice.
More than 350 delegates including Scientists from all parts of the country are participating in the two-day Seminar.
UNI
