Sugarcane crushing at Joypurhat Sugar Mills began here on Friday with a target of producing 2,170 tonnes of sugar by crushing 35,000 tonnes of sugarcane during the current 2023-24 season.
Sheikh Shoebul Alam, Chairman (Grade-1) of Bangladesh Sugar and Food Industry Corporation (BSFIC) inaugurated the sugarcane threshing as the chief guest with managing director of the sugar mill agriculturist Md Akhlasur Rahman in the chair this afternoon.
Secretary of BSFIC Chowdhury Ruhul Amin Kawsar, Sugar Mill Workers Union President Ali Akhtar and its General Secretary Ahsan Habib Rumel, among others, spoke on the occasion.
According to the Mill sources, the price of each quintal (100 kilograms) of sugarcane has been fixed at Taka 550 if the farmer brings it to the mill gate and Taka 534 per quintal at external sugarcane buying centers. Mill sources said it would be 56th cane crushing season of the mill. In this connection, the cane buying centres and the factory machineries have been reformed.
The largest state-owned sugar mill had suffered a loss of Tk 661.70 million in the previous season. Sugarcane production in the district is on the decline as growers are switching to other crops or are interested in producing molasses, sources said.
General Manager (Finance) of Joypurhat Sugar Mill Md Salim Mia said, to encourage sugarcane cultivation, an amount of over Taka 2 crore was distributed as agricultural loan to 2,440 sugarcane farmers.
Last fiscal year 2022-23, a total of over Taka 44 lakh was given as subsidy to 2,930 sugarcane farmers for planting sugarcane under the seedling system (STP), he said.
