There is dire need to produce more ethanol than sugar: Prof. Narendra Mohan

Three days “Executive Development Programme” being organized at the National Sugar institute from 26^th to 28^th June started today.  The programme is being attended by the top executives of sugar factories and distilleries from U.P., Maharashtra, Karnataka, Bihar, Haryana, Gujarat and Nepal. During the first day of the programme, the participants were educated on the issues of project management, raw material management, human resource management and on taking advantage of the government initiatives and policies.

Prof. Vinay Sharma, IIT-Roorkee emphasized upon proper structuring of the sugar factories and distilleries with respect to manpower so as to harness the potential of available resources to maximum possible extent. He stressed on defining role and responsibilities of each worker with higher officials taking lead and inspiring the subordinates to as to achieve the pre-set goals. Dr. Sushil Solomon, Vice Chancellor, CSA University of Agriculture & Technology presented model of raw material management system so as to avoid post harvest losses.

Sugarcane is a perishable crop, with any cut to crush delay, the weight and sugar content both are reduced and thus when the price to the farmers is paid on weight basis, such delay is neither in the interest of farmer or miller. Introduction of information technology  on a larger scale to keep a track of age of crop, it’s harvesting and actual supply is the need of hour, he said. He also emphasized upon developing “SMART SUGARCANE VARITIEIS” giving higher yield, sugar content and biomass with lower input requirements of fertilizers and irrigation water.

Dr. MS Sundaram, Managing Director, JP Mukherjee & Associates, Pune described the intricacies of project management. With large no. of ethanol plants coming up which are to be integrated with existing sugar plants, there is need for having staff well conversant in project management for its timely completion so as to avoid cost over runs and to achieve the projected targets. Proper project planning and it’s monitoring is the essence of success keeping in view the issues associated with environment and other clearances, pre-dispatch inspections, supplies, erection and commissioning. Thus, it is important to have personnel having insight of project management, he added. Dr. GSC Rao, Managing Director, M/s Global Canesugar Services Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi presented ways and means to reduce the cost of production of sugar and increasing the revenue pot.

In his address, Prof. Narendra Mohan presented details of policy interventions made during the last couple of year by the Government of India for its sustainability. We are surplus in sugar from two sugar seasons and next year 2019-20 also we are going to be surplus in sugar. The next sugar season is likely to open with a carryover of about 14.6 million tons of sugar which is more than six months of our domestic consumption. Keeping this in view and more sugar to be added next season, there is dire need to produce more ethanol than sugar particularly keeping in view the economics of ethanol production and its demand. Our cane cost are highest among the major sugar producing in India, making our sugar costlier and un-competitive in the international market. While the sugarcane price in Brazil, Australia and Thailand is USD 24-27 per tons, it is about US$ 42 per ton in the country, said Prof. Mohan. He suggested fixation of sugarcane price on the basis of sharing of revenues between farmers and millers in pre-determined ratio as suggested by Dr. Rangarajan Committee or through some logical formula.

The first day programme was also addressed by Prof. D. Swain, Prof. Sugar Engineering, NSI, Kanpur covering various issues of day to day operation & maintenance.