State to taste sweet rise in sugar production

As per the officials,while mill associations have estimated that nearly 93,000 hectares are under sugarcane in state this season,private millers claim the area is close to one lakh hectares.

Contacted,Punjab Cane commissioner,Dr Ranjit Singh,confirmed as much. “The mill owners get the farmers to cultivate sugarcane as per their needs,and this can be calculated at the end of crushing season. But we believe that more that 90,000 hectares area is under sugarcane this season,” he added. In a recent meeting,the cooperative and the private sector mills expressed hope of a better production this year. For instance,Nawanshahr Cooperative mill is set to produce 3 lakh quintals sugar this season compared to 2.39 lakh quintals last year.

Punjab has nine mills in the cooperative sector and seven in private sector crushing nearly 47,000 tonnes sugarcane every day. It may be noted that in the past few years,the state has witnessed a substantial increase in the sugar productions – 18.20 lakh quintals in 2009-10,30.20 lakh quintals in 2010-11 and 37.50 lakh quintals in 2011-12.