The much-feared delay by the Arignar Anna Sugar Mills at Kurungulam near here in commencing the crushing season might hit sugarcane suppliers in Thanjavur and Pudukkottai districts hard. Usually, crushing starts in November end and this time it is expected that the mill might start work only late in December.
Though the crushing season here used to begin in December, the mill management, under the control of the state-owned Tamil Nadu Sugar Corporation, started crushing operations by November or in October over the past couple of years due to requests from cane suppliers.
Mostly, growers plant in October and roughly 12 months old crop would be harvested the next October when the recovery rate of sugar would be at the maximum.
Last year, the crushing season commenced on November 13 and continued till the middle of May. However, the employees strike over inadequate wages crippled operations for two months in November and December leading to protests by cane growers. The mill also suffered breakdowns a few times last year. Mill authorities then diverted cane arrivals to sugar mills in Mohanur, Sivaganga, Arnthangi and Sathamangalam. During 2012-13 too, employees’ unrest had affected operations to a significant extent.
Due to employees’ strike, labourers engaged in harvesting cane returned home to Cuddalore and Villupuram. The harvest labour cost that used to be Rs. 400 a tonne shot up to even Rs. 1,000 a tonne due to scarcity of labour. All the loss to growers resulted from disoriented operation of the mill, allege cane suppliers K. Ravichandran of Minnathur and N. Kumar of Muthupatti.
“The condition of the mill that was commissioned in 1977, poor maintenance and tardy planning has dashed hopes of cane growers,” says secretary of the Arignar Anna Sugar Mills Cane Suppliers Association P. Govindaraj. Though the mill modernisation activity commenced on June 5, 2010, and must have been completed in 18 months, the work has been dragging endlessly, he told The Hindu .
Mr. Govindaraj opines that the lower recovery rate reduced the farmers’ returns. The government had assured us that crushing during this season would be in the new unit but who knows what would be in store for us even for the next year, he rues adding this year operations would be in the old unit only.
Sugarcane is raised on an estimated 6,000 acres in Thanjavur and Pudukkottai districts where around 3.5 lakh tonnes of cane would be ready for harvest in a few weeks. We fear the harvest might prolong beyond 15 months this season and it would result in poor productivity, less recovery and reduced returns for us, says Mr. Govindaraj.
Cane growers feel the mill may not start operations before mid December and fear that there might be plans to re-route at least 1.5 lakh tonnes to other mills due to the inefficiency of the mill. They urge the TASCO to plan properly at least next year and avoid leaving the cane suppliers in the lurch.
