MADURAI
A total of one lakh tonne of sugarcane is targeted for crushing at the National Cooperative Sugar Mills (NCSM) in Alanganallur in the 2018-19 crushing season that was inaugurated by Collector S. Natarajan on Wednesday.
A statement issued by the district administration said that 2,100 acres has been registered by the farmers in Madurai from which 60,000 tonnes of sugarcane is expected to be crushed. Another 10,000 tonnes of sugarcane will be received from farmers who had not registered. The remaining 30,000 tonnes will be taken from mills in Villupuram, Perambalur and Thanjavur.
This is in contrast to the 38,000 tonne of sugarcane crushed in the 2017-18 season from which 34,000 quintal of sugar was produced.
Welcoming the decision to crush one lakh tonne of sugarcane this season, N. Palanichamy, president, Tamil Nadu Sugarcane Farmers’ Association and one of the directors of the mill, appealed to the State government to release the pending due of ₹ 8 crore from 2015-16 and 2016-17 seasons to the farmers.
He also sought to release ₹ 1.5 crore to the farmers under the profit-sharing formula.
