Minister for cooperation says a single plan should cover all allied products and give better benefits to farmers.
The state minister of cooperation, Harshwardhan Patil, on Sunday stressed on the need for a well-defined policy on sugar and other allied products such as molasses, bagasse and biofuels.
He was speaking at the inauguration of the Joint Convention 2011 organised by Deccan Sugar Technologists’ Association (DSTA) and Sugar Technologists’ Association of India (STAI).
He said, “The time has come to draft a definition of the sugar industry so that all the activities related to sugar production can come under one umbrella to generate more employment and to take the benefits to sugarcane farmers in a better way.”
Patil said such conventions create a good atmosphere for the sugar industry, help discussion of technical issues and help drafting of a vision document.
He appealed to both associations to contribute towards drafting the definition of the sugar industry. Uniformity in the definition will help in drafting policies in a better way.
Referring to the recent meeting with the prime minister, Manmohan Singh, Patil said, “Though the state leadership spoke to the prime minster, it will take some time to come to a conclusion.”
“Maharashtra state has 10.4 lakh hectares of land under sugarcane cultivation and this year the total production of sugar reached 8.5 lakh metric tonnes,” he said.
In a bid to create a competitive atmosphere among sugar factories, the state government is working on a draft to allow sugar factories to collect sugarcane within a radius of 25 km for crushing, so if there are two factories in the area, the sugarcane farmers can sell at the higher price, Patil said.
The nonagenarian member of the legislative assembly, Appasaheb alias SR Patil, was conferred a lifetime achievement award for his contribution to the sugar industry. He is the founder of Shri Dutt cooperative sugar factory in Kolhapur.
President of DSTA, BV Shinde, appealed to the minister to look into the matter of creating good chemists and engineers to support the sugar industry technically. The sugar industry will have to face dire problems in future due to want of good engineers and chemists, he said.
President of STAI, GSC Rao, was also present on the dais.
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