A Seance with SELF on Sugar Industry

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Retrospects and prospect

Pushing seventy and more than half of it spent in sugar industry, I guess I am entitled to relax; think of the past incidents in the industry and more important put up my heels to sip and savour my favourite steaming, aromatic tumblerful of coffee. Reflection is rather a trite and tardy way to explain the raciness of events that come to mind. Shall I call this reverie that has all the trappings of romantic nostalgia that you feel while you turn the dog-eared pages of an old album of black and whites? Of course this will culminate in the current scenario - a collage of glory and gory which will naturally take us to why and whereof and possible clue to what ought to have been done to be done etc. If this enlightens and edifies even a few the expansive emptiness which normally maligns reverie get filled up.

Introduction Image from:
commons.wikimedia.org

The Honey-reed in Retrospect:

Sugarcane as a sweetener is a Vedic and a historic entity. As a bow in cupids hand or an ornate arte fact in Goddess Raja Rajeshwari's hand instances are replete in mythology.

A Greek traveler in India, around the time Alexander the Great invaded, chronicles the relish with which the natives chewed the 'honey reed'. Of more recent historic origin is how indigo plantations were uprooted by swadeshis as a protest against British domination. Sugarcane was planted in its place. This sure will bring to memory historic corner stones in freedom struggle Champaran, Babu Rajendra Prasad and others. In its wake sugar factories were set up (Of course factories of vintage established in the south-EID, Deccan Sugars-were in existence even earlier). Then came the Imperial Research Institute connected with sugarcane and sugar at Coimbatore and Lucknow respectively.

Doubtless in progress of time we have now occupied the top most bracket among sugar producers in the world. There have been tremendous leaps technologically on the field and the factory. There are cane varieties to suit the terrain and time schedule, genetic engineers have pushed vegetative reproduction to tissue culture for propagation. Cane carriers which were run by steam engines are now run on hydraulics. Centrifugals that were water driven once are completely automated. The number of factories has also gone up by leaps and bounds. Diversification prospects utilizing bagasse and molasses have been recognized and taken up. More than ever sugar cane as an energy crop, thanks to bagasse oriented power and ethanol blended automobile fuel, has come on its own. With all these the health of the industry is a constant source of anxiety. Many factories have outright closed and many more are languishing to follow suit. Following major causes can be adduced:

- Improper location like how the factories came up in UP and Bihar as a sequel to indigo plantation being replaced with cane.

- During license raj, licenses were issued as gifts to politicians for factories in wrong locations where there was no potential and in many cases the potential of existing neighbouring factories was eroded / undermined.

- The Sampath Committee incentives, though formulated with good intention of increasing the production capacity saw indiscriminate spawning of new factories and expansions. Armed with ephemeral fiscal advantage, thanks to incentives, these new units indulged in unfair competition which virtually rung the death knell for the old and established factories in the neighbourhood.

- Lured by the lucre many fly by night operators came on the scene and made quick buck and vanished not before hurting seasoned and senior players.

- Control mechanisms prevalent in the industry provided a fertile field for politicians and policy makers to exploit this sensitive industry for personal gains and political gains-all at the cost of the long term interest of the industry. Ad hoc and short time sops as policies adopted by govt. have virtually been the constant axe hit at this majestic old huge tree.

- Some among well established units refused/ failed to read the writing on the wall. Lack of professionalism exposed them to the vulnerabilities of competition to be swept off existence.

- Amidst all this the industry in constant whine is in eternal want of succor from the government. To match this, the debacle is all swept under the carpet of 'mismanagement' - a term familiar and close to the press, readers and the critics of the industry alike.

Prosperine Sugar Mill
Image from:
commons.wikimedia.org

Prospects:

It is high time the industry got into a mode of 'self help':
  • 1It should concentrate on efficiency-oriented pursuits- both in the field and the factory. Some that comes to my mind are varietal combination for different periods and terrain, crop rotation fallowing etc. and with regard to plant and machinery adoption of latest power, steam and labour saving equipments. Mechanize field operations.
  • 2Diversification utilizing molasses and bagasse - ethanol for automobiles, power from bagasse.
  • 3Get into non-conventional areas in diversification - tourism, school, hospital, cold storage for horticulture and agriculture products in the area, hotel. Bio-diesel utilizing non-edible vegetable oils will also help the cane growers to get into alternative crops in lands not ideally suited for cane. The demand is also almost 'captive' with fleet of Lorries and tractors used cane haulage, oil engines used for irrigation etc. Power produced in co-gen outfit can be distributed to local consumers and especially to cane growers with whom you can barter power for cane!! Similarly utilizing bio diesel, generator sets run on diesel can be run to produce power during the off season when it is hard to come by bagasse, what more with lesser emission and some realization through carbon trading!
  • 4Constant up gradation of the skills of operatives and supervisory officers both at the field and factory.
  • 5Research institutes connected with cane, sugar and academics should be funded and run by the industry.
  • 6Industry at large should strive to exploit the strength of our country - the much maligned population and increase per capita consumption.
  • 7The factories should liaise with IT outfits to bring about soft ware programmes connected with agriculture and agri. products. The hordes of computer qualified boys and girls from rural areas can be used to out source this from. This will help check migration to towns and cities.
  • 8The sugar factory should act as a 'trustee' for the socio, economic and cultural development in their area of operation and similarly group of factories can work in tandem for the whole region. The sugar factory should be harbinger of development and ensure proper values in life are instilled in young minds and safely enshrined in that of the elders, by extending their activities beyond what commercial pursuit will confine them to.

Sugarcane factory in India

Sugarcane factory in India
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Your Sweet Words and Comments!

  • VKumar Jan 28, 2012 @ 1:27 pm | delete
    Very interesting stuff. Great lens.
  • BusinessSarah Jan 6, 2012 @ 5:25 pm | delete
    This is fascinating! I learned a lot from this lens -- thanks so much!
  • Arjunsinh Jadeja Dec 29, 2011 @ 11:12 pm | delete
    TLRaghavan,I wish we could,with a magic wand,make you younger,so that we could still have you with us guiding the sugar industry with your immense insight and grain knowledge.God bless.
  • karmicchristian Dec 29, 2011 @ 6:58 am | delete
    Your industry experience shines through in this lens!

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TLRaghavan

TLR can reasonably be proud of stint of nearly 4 ½ decades of active contributory service in the sugar industry in different states of India - Tamil... more »

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