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Mills fear sugarcane shortage

A result of sudden closure of sugar mills last year, sources say
Little progress in 8 months
Kongkon Karmaker, Dinajpur
All nine sugar mills operating across the country may face a shortage of sugarcane this year as the total farming area of this cash crop has declined by almost half compared to previous growing seasons.
Farmers in the catchment areas of the sugar mills refrained from cultivating sugarcane in large quantities this season after facing enormous hassles and losses due to the sudden closure of six other mills in the country last year, sources said.
The sugarcane crushing, or processing, season begins in December each year.
This year, sugarcane was cultivated on 49,900 acres of land in the mill-catchment areas while the total area used was 1.09 lakh acres in 2020.
The shuttered sugar mills are Setabganj Sugar Mill in Dinajpur, Panchagarh Sugar Mill, Shyampur Sugar Mill in Badarganj upazila of Rangpur, Pabna Sugar Mill, Kushtia Sugar Mill and Rangpur Sugar Mill.
However, even farmers in the catchment areas of operational mills have reduced sugarcane cultivation as they find it difficult to maintain a steady stream of profit.
For example, Hafizur Rahman, a farmer of Panchagarh sadar upazila who cultivated sugarcane on 18 acres of land to supply to Thakurgaon Sugar Mill last year, said he suffered a loss of Tk 12 lakh since most of his crops were damaged in the field.
As such, Hafiz reduced his sugarcane cultivation area from 18 acres to six acres in a bid to avert any further losses.
He cultivated paddy on the rest of his 20-acre farm.
Many farmers even lost their capital entirely after the six sugar mills were closed.
Md Zikrul Islam had cultivated sugarcane on 10 acres of land last season to supply Thakurgaon Sugar Mill, the largest mill of its kind in the country’s northern region.
But since most of his crops were damaged in the fields, he suffered a loss of Tk 4.5 lakh.
The land he operated on had been leased for Tk 25,000 per year but after failing to pay the amount in 2020, the contract was not renewed.
Sugarcane being loaded onto a truck in Taraganj upazila in Rangpur district last week for sale in markets. This year, sugarcane was cultivated on 49,900 acres of land in sugar mill-catchment areas while the total area used was 1.09 lakh acres in 2020.
Kongkon Karmaker
MODERNISATION OF SUGAR MILLS
Jagaran Chakma
Although eight months have passed since the closure of six sugar mills, there has been little progress in modernising them owing to red tape.
Following a government order, the Bangladesh Sugar and Food Industries Corporation (BSFIC) shut the production at six mills -- Pabna Sugar and Shyampur Sugar in Rangpur, Panchagarh Sugar and Setabganj Sugar in Dinajpur, Rangpur Sugar, and Kushtia Sugar -- in December last year for an indefinite period.
Until modernisation takes place, the affected farmers, however, can supply sugarcane to the operational mills.
Officials of the industries ministry and the BSFIC say it takes time to complete official procedures, which involve securing approval from the ministry, vetting by the law ministry and approval from the Prime Minister’s Office.
Industries ministry officials have no clear idea how long it would take to finalise the process to pave the way for investment to flow to modernise the mills.
“We have prepared a summary on how to ensure profitability of the sugar mills. It will be submitted to the PMO for the final approval,” said Sibnath Roy, additional secretary to the state-run corporation under the industries ministry and the head of the negotiation team for investment.
The mills’ closure came after the BSFIC found that the sugar mills faced Tk 787.10 crore in losses on an average per year from 2015-16 to 2019-20 against sugar crushing. Over the last five years, the BSFIC incurred losses of Tk 3,976 crore.
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