Home ›› 27 Sep 2021 ›› Nation
Thousands of sugarcane growers are passing their days in anxiety as production at Pabna Sugar Mills has been suddenly suspended.
The sugar mill – located on Pakuria Circle (Mouza) in Dashuria union of Ishwardi – was established in December 1992 on 60 acres of land and started producing sugar in FY1997-98.
However, since its inauguration, the establishment was facing a shortage of sugarcane and failed to derive a profit, due to which the mill authorities decided to suspend production in FY2020-21.
“Although the government did not shut the mill down, the mill management committee took the decision as the ongoing sugarcane crisis was worsening and growers were gradually opting for short-term crop varieties,” said Md Saif Uddin Ahmed, managing director (MD) of the sugar mill.
According to the sugar mill sources, they have a capacity of processing 1,500 tonnes of sugarcane every day. To obtain this large volume of sugarcanes, they need a minimum of 10,000 acres of land. However, day by day, as growers became less interested in sugarcane cultivation and the crop became scarce, the mill suffered to survive for a decade.
According to the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) Pabna office, farmers cultivated the crop on around 3,299 hectares of land in 2020-21 FY. However, after the closure of the mill, it decreased to 1,368 hectares of land in 2021-22 FY. The mill authority told The Business Post that in their last operative year, 2019-20 FY, they have processed 1,00,000 tonnes of sugarcane.
Meanwhile, the valuable equipment and buildings of the Pabna Sugar Mills were seen dilapidated, full of weeds and desolate. The locals said the mill is counting its days to be entirely defunct.
“We want the sugar mill to be operative again. There are hundreds of farmers who are still cultivating sugarcanes and facing losses due to the closure of the mill,” said Sajedul Islam Shahin, president of Pabna Sugar Mill Workers Federation.
He said if the authority takes the area under the authorization of North Bengal Sugar Mills, hundreds of farmers, local employees and workers will be benefited.
Murad Ali Malitha, farmers’ leader of Ishwardi told The Business Post, the mill authorities did not take any initiative to ease their sufferings following the sudden suspension.
“Unable to sell their sugarcane, farmers had to opt for retail sale, which is difficult to pursue and earns less profit,” he added.
Md Salim, a farmer of Sadar upazila, said: “I cultivated sugarcanes on 2.5 bighas of land. Last year, the mill authorities helped us to sell our crops. However, this year, the mill authorities have no concern for us, and I do not know what I will do with my harvest,”
“If I cannot sell my crop, I am planning to turn them into jaggery on my own,” added the farmer.
Addressing these issues, the mill authority told The Business Post that, the farmers should not worry about selling their crop as they have included the growers in the other sugar-producing zones. They also said that the growers can sell their harvest to these distributors easily.
“As we have suspended production at the factory, we distributed the last lot of our sugarcane, which is 30,000 tonnes, to adjacent sugar mills. We are also in discussion with the North Bengal Sugar Mills so that they buy sugarcane from the Ishwardi area to lessen the farmers’ woes,” Pabna Sugar Mills MD Saif Uddin said.
“We tried to make the process easier for the employees and suppliers of our factory by transferring them to other sugar mills around the country. Over 600 employees and workers were transferred to different mills, and the unemployment created by our decision is insignificant,” added Saif.
