Pawar on Sunday said he will urge the state government to supply power to farmers daytime.
Local MLA Dilip Bankar raised the issue and sought Pawar’s intervention in the matter after the latter flagged off sugar cane crushing at the Ranwad cooperative sugar factory, which resumed operations after six years, on Sunday.
Addressing a gathering at the function, Pawar said there was a need to make by-products to make the sugar factory viable and profitable, Otherwise, farmers incur losses. Pawar said factories should also focus on producing power, ethanol, and hydrogen to make the factory profitable. “If this happens, farmers will get a better price for their produce,” said Pawar.
Pawar said that there has been a drop in sugar production in Brazil and Thailand – the largest sugar producing countries in the world – and demand for sugar has increased in the international market. “Hence, there is a scope to export sugar,” he said.
Citing the example of Brazil, where Pawar said factories crush 35,000 tonnes of sugarcane a day with just 100 workers, he urged sugar factories to increase production with limited manpower.
Source:thetimesofindia.com