The Works

| 2002 |

Sour future for huge sugar piles in Goa factory

After piling up huge losses over the past three decades and with sugar worth nearly Rs 11 crore lying unused in its godown, authorities at the Sanjivani Factory in Dayanandnagar at Dharbandora-Sanguem are now probing other avenues to pump in the much needed funds to resuscitate the factory.

Among the options being considered at the factory are ancillary activities to generate fuel, production of alcohol and ethanol from by-products of sugarcane, as well as processing of raw sugar during the lean period.

“Despite the problems, the Sanjivani factory can still be turned into a profitable enterprise,” informs Director of Settlement and Land Records R M Vardhan.

Vardhan has been appointed the Administrator of Sanjivani Factory since March, when farmers handed over the factory to the government after being unable to handle it profitably.

Admitting that huge amounts of sugar was lying at the factory, Vardhan said the accumulation of sugar was primarily due to the policy of central government, which controls the distribution of sugar in the country.

The Centre has an all-India formula, by which it releases sugar from the different sugar factories all over the country.

Efforts are on to get the Centre to consider Goa as a special case, but so far there has been no positive response from the Centre.

“Unless we sell more bags of sugar,” admits Vardhan, “we cannot pay the loans. The sale of bags will also clear the existing stock and create space for the new stock in the godown, while also ensuring availability of fresh stock of sugar.”

Given the climatic factors and humidity in Goa, sugar tends to get spoilt, if it is stored for a long time.

Another problem is that the quality of sugarcane produced in Goa is inferior in comparison with sugarcane available in neighbouring states.

According to officials, 1 tonne of Goan sugarcane generates an 8 percent recovery, while the same quantity of sugarcane, if imported from other states, generates a 12 per cent recovery. Which means, more sugar can be extracted from imported sugarcane.

Despite the inferior quality of sugarcane in Goa, Vardhan believes that the factory could still perform well.

“The main shortage at the factory is the non-availability of raw material, sugarcane,” admits Vardhan.

At present, about 600 farmers are cultivating sugarcane in approximately 1,200 hectares in a few pockets of the State.

According to officials, the factory needs at least 1.5 lakh tonnes of sugarcane per year, but the State generates only 60,000 tonnes and this is only 40 percent of the requirement, necessitating the import of sugarcane from other states.

Market prices also play a key role in the performance of the Sanjivani Factory.

In 1998-99, the factory created a record of sorts with the maximum production of sugar (2,02,489 quintals) in its history, after leaping past 1,02,965 quintals in 1997-98. But luck did not favour factory as the sugar prices crashed. What should have been profits eventually ended up as losses to the tune of a few crores of rupees. Last year, the price of sugar was Rs 1,300 per 100 kilos and this year, the rate has gone down to Rs 1,200.

“If the factory is to perform to its potential, then it should have the required raw material to crush to capacity and the markets should be steady,” says Vardhan.

“The State must be self-sufficient in the availability of sugarcane and this is only possible if sugarcane is grown on a war footing. Merely importing sugarcane from neighbouring states will not suffice,” he adds.

The Administrator is also probing other plans to run the factory during the lean period, in a bid to offset the losses.

Some of these ideas include setting up of ancillary industries, such as co-generation plants.

“A by-product of sugarcane `bagasse’ can be used as fuel in boilers,” informed Vardhan, but admits that necessary machinery and modification in the factory would be required if this co-generation plant is to take shape.

Another avenue being studied is the ability to produce alcohol and ethanol at the factory and another by-product, molasses, is used in the production of alcohol and ethanol. However, the factory would need a dehydration plant to produce alcohol and ethanol.

Yet another possibility to keep the factory up and running during the lean period is processing of raw sugar, which can be cheaply imported from abroad and processed into fine sugar.

“These are some of the ideas which have now to be put on paper and probed, before we can implement them at the factory, in order to turn it into a profitable enterprise,” affirms Vardhan.

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