Move to revive Brahmavar Sugar Factory gathers pace

Move to revive Brahmavar Sugar Factory gathers pace

Mangalore Today News Network

Udupi, Feb 5, 2015 :  With the Department of Agriculture giving a favourable report, one more step has been taken towards the revival of the Brahmavar Cooperative Sugar Factory, which shut down in 2004 amid mounting losses.

The factory was established in 1985 on the premise that the Varahi Irrigation Project, which was expected to provide irrigation facilities to about 15,700 hectares (ha) of land, to encourage farmers to grow sugarcane.

This cane could be supplied to the factory benefiting both the farmers and the factory. But the tardy implementation of the irrigation project strangled the fortunes of the factory.

Meetings

However, in the last one year, the move to revive the factory has been gathering pace.

The management of the factory has held a series of meetings with farmers, who have responded positively to the revival plan.

The Department of Agriculture held a meeting of farmers groups, agricultural scientists and officials of the factory in Brahmavar on January 19, 2015 and collected their opinion. After the meeting, the Department sent a report to the Agriculture Commissioner in Bengaluru, on January 27, 2015, who has favoured the revival of the factory.

According to Anthony Maria Immanuel, Joint Director of Agriculture, cultivating paddy was becoming an increasingly difficult proposition for the farmers as it was labour intensive and not highly remunerative. As a result, fallow land in the district had increased from 8,000 hectares (ha) in 2011-12 to 12,600 ha in 2013-14 in the district.

“Sugarcane is the best alternative for the district as it receives 3,500 mm of rainfall during monsoon. Moreover cane is not labour intensive and is more remunerative,” he said.

In its revival plan, the factory management has sought replacement of old machinery in the factory with new machinery to augment the cane crushing capacity from 1,250 metric tonnes per day to 2,500 metric tonnes. This is expected to cost Rs. 100 crore.

Diversification

This plan is also focusing on diversification. Since the factory has 110 acres of land on the National Highway 66, the management has also urged the government to set up cogeneration plant, a distillery, steam-baked brick making unit, organic fertilizer manufacturing unit and a sugar reprocessing plant.

But the revival of the factory hinges heavily on the speedy implementation of the Varahi Irrigation Project. Of a total of 15,700 ha to be irrigated under the project, 7,800 ha is meant for the sugarcane growing belt.

“Even if 3,000 acres of land gets irrigation facility by the end of April as promised by Irrigation Minister M.B. Patil, farmers will feel enthused to cultivate sugarcane. Once this is done, we can hopefully revive the factory in a year,” said M. Jayasheela Shetty, Chairman of the factory.