Team Herald
PONDA: The 46th crushing season of Goa’s only Sanjeevani Sugar Factory came to an end on Thursday.
The season started on December 13 last year and factory was in operation for around 44 days crushing 52,839 metric tonnes of sugarcane.
Frequent machinery breakdown as well stoppage of sugarcane by Karnataka farmers midway through the crushing season due to Anmod-Goa road closure, reduced the quantity of cane supplied by Karnataka farmers.
Further, the Goan sugarcane production was affected due to heavy rainfall at the start and low rainfall at the end. Due to various reasons, this year, the factory has crushed far less quantity of sugarcane as compared to last season. The total amount of sugar produced this season is around 41,000 quintals, which 16,000 quintals lower than last year.
The State government has recently decided to bring the factory under agriculture department from the cooperation department. Agriculture Minister Vijay Sardesai has claimed that the factory is running in loss and needs to be revived. “We want to revive it with the help of Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana,” he had said.
The factory is in dire need of modernization, which is estimated to cost Rs 29.32 crore. A proposal for the same has already been submitted to the Union government under the RKVY (National Agricultural Scheme).
