Joypurhat Sugar Mills counting huge loss starts sugarcane crushing on Dec 2

Joypurhat, Nov 29 (BDNEWS) – The sugarcane crushing programme at Joypurhat Sugar Mills will start on December 2. The Mills is shouldering a huge burden of losses of over Tk 64 crore.

Sources said since its inauguration in 1962, the Sugar Mills had covered total 42 sugarcane crushing seasons and among them, 27 counted huge loss and the Mills has to pay TK four crore annually to the banks as the interests of the loan stands at Tk 21 lakh 570 over a loss of TK 64 crore.

On a spot visit, BDNEWS found that the local farmers have lost interest to cultivate sugarcanes for its long harvesting time and uncertainty in sale market.

The miseries of the sugarcane growers have multiplied when they have to pay visit several times to the authorities of Sugar Mills for their due payment.

Sources close to the Sugar Mills said they have taken initiatives to revive sugarcane cultivation giving the farmers subsidy on fertilizer, seeds, insecticides, mechanised cultivation along with raising the price of sugarcane per maund by TK 51.44, but in vain.

When asked, Ali Ajgar, the Manager (finance) of the Sugar Mills told BDNEWS that though the Mills has the capacity to crush two lakh metric tons of sugarcanes, but the production of sugarcanes are half causing the huge loss to the concern.

The Mills authorities said though they have brought 10,4,80 hectors of land under 10 sub - zones to cultivate sugarcanes, but the recent flood and water logging damaged the sugarcanes of 9,500 acres of land.

The Mills authorities said they have targeted to get 7,875 metric tons of sugar crushing one lakh five hundred metric tons of sugarcanes.

In the last year, the target was fixed at 12,225 metric tons of sugar crushing one lakh 63 thousand metric tons of sugarcanes. But in reality, only 6,123 metric tons of sugar was produced crushing 89,4,21 metric tons of sugarcanes.

Sources said the irregularities of the authorities and the spreading of the Indian sugar in the local markets are other causes for the losses of the sugar Mills.

On the other hand, price hike of gur and the late season of crushing sugarcanes in the Mills, forced the farmers of Phulbari, Goborchapa, Dhamurhat, Mohadevpur and Badalgachhi zones to crush their sugarcanes in the power crusher to sell in the different local markets after making gur that also caused the loss to the Mills.

Sources said the Mills remained open for 63 days in the last season but the low cultivation including the damage of sugarcanes in the flood and water logging forced the Mills to remain open fewer days than the last year.

BDNEWS/0821 hrs