245 Yamunanagar jaggery units to restart ops

Shiv Kumar Sharma
Tribune News Service
Yamunanagar, April 7

At a time when wheat and mustard growers are worried about their almost-ready crop due to bad weather conditions and shortage of harvesters, there is good news for sugarcane farmers of Yamunanagar district. The local administration has allowed 245 jaggery units to resume operations suspended following the lockdown on March 30.

“We have allowed running of jaggery units in the interest of sugarcane producers. Owners can make their units functional from today, but we have asked them to ensure social distancing,” said Deputy Commissioner Mukul Kumar.

Yamunanagar district is considered the sugarcane hub of Haryana with an area of 85,000 acres under the crop.

Local farmers supply sugarcane to Saraswati Sugar Mills, Yamunanagar, under a cane bonding agreement and the mill has fixed a target of crushing 160 lakh quintal cane in the current crushing season. Once farmers have supplied the agreed upon quantity of cane to the mill, they supply the surplus to jaggery units.

“Harvesting sugarcane and wheat together is difficult. Before starting harvesting of wheat, farmers want to finish sugarcane crop. Therefore, the jaggery units play an important role in the consumption of sugarcane at this stage,” said Brijesh Kumar, a farmer of Devdhar village.

“We are hopeful sugarcane production will remain between 300 to 350 quintals per acre this year due to favourable climate conditions in the district,” said Suraj Bhan, Additional Cane Development Officer, Yamunanagar.

According to information, jaggery units crush about 20,000 quintals sugarcane every day and this number is expected to go up to about 50 lakh quintals in the current crushing season.

“This decision of the administration is in favour of sugarcane farmers and will help them harvest their sugarcane crop on time,” said Mohinder Pal, president of Cane Crusher Association, Yamunanagar district.