CANE SUGAR INDUSTRY IN INDIA - ISSCT Singh Cane Sugar Industry... · Juice clarification is mostly done by Double Sulphitation process except a ... loading and speed adjushne~lts

CANE SUGAR INDUSTRY IN INDIA

Mangal Si~igli Executive Director, Bajaj Hindlnstha~i Ltd.

Golagokaraiuiatli (U.P.)

This is tlie second time India has the privilege of hosting the ISSCT Congress. Earlier it was in January 1956 when I was still a student of Sugar Technology at tlie National Sugar Institute, Kanpur and was fortunate to have participated in a small way.

Teclmology as you hiow is all integrating force. as is cvidenl from tlie assei~lbly of individuals from all parts of the world here to exchange views and knowledge. You are all aware that we are on tlie threshold of a Global era; trade barriers are being removed, regulated and guide cconoinies will be replaced by market econoniies.

I11 India the Sugar Cane is utilised to produce sweetening agents in various fonns viz.

Plantatioii White Sugar Vacuuill Pail Process Ceiitriftigal Crystal Sugar Open Pail Process Khaiidsari Sugar Opcn Pall Process (Mol Fileration) Gur-Jaggary-Solidified Cane Juicc - Opcii Pan Process Amorphous Browvn Sugar Open Pall Process

About 50 to 55% of the sugar cane produced is utilised for production of white sugar while kllaiidsari and Jaggary account for about 35% and tlie balance utilised for secd and chewing etc. The ppen pan process is the traditional aiid inefficient one and continues despite sizeable loss of recoverable sugar. I

During tlie period of 43 years since the IX ISSCT Congress the Industry has booked phenomenal grobvt11 to emerge as the highest producer of pla~ltation wliite sugar in tlie world albeit with low productivity of Sugar/ HaNr. .

The relative status of the industry then and now is as folio\\ s:

1956 1998

Area under Sugar Cane (in iiiillioii Ha) 1.8 3.97 Prod~ictioa of Sugar Cane (I ~nillioii tons) 58.7 260.2 Yield of caneMa in Tons , 32.6 66.4 No. of Fanners (million) 2 0 ' 40 Cane cnlshed by Sugar Mills (million tons) 18.7 129.2 Cane Cnished by Giir &Kliandsari (inilliom tons) 33 100 No. of Sugar Mills 160 465 Production of Sugar (million tons) 1.89 12.85 Recovery % Cane 10.13 9.95 Productioii of Molasses (million tons) 0.74 5.6 Co~isulnptioil of Sugar (millioa tons) 1.14 15 Exports (million tons) 0.86 Per capita consulnption of White sugar (Kg) 4.8 15.2 Per capita consuliiptioli of all sweetener Agents -sugar-Miandsari-gur 2 0 24.2

The owlrerslrip of the factories is distributed in the Private , Cooperative and Public Sector Units. Out of 465 Units, 259 are in Cooperative, 140 in Privatc and 66 are in Public Sector ( governlent managed)

The cons~unpion of sugar in india has booked high rate of increase i.e. 35 to 45 % wllich is one ofthe highest rate in the world. The demand is price elastic and being a very vast country the consumption pattern varies between rural and urban populace and different regions.

The growl11 col~titlues both tluouglr expansioll of existing units as well as establishment of new units. 240 units have already been licensed to be installed. Tlle task force on Sugar Illdustry has estimated the per capita collsuniption of white sugar to reach 21.35 kg and the country's consulllption to 23.5 million tons by 2006-7 when the production is targetted to be about 27 nlillion tons uith a provision for export of 2.5 to 3 million tons.

These benchmarks appear to be tough and there is a formidable task before the technicians and agri scientists of the COUII~IY.

Thc Industry has very vital contribution in the economy lvith anllual value of caqe price being US$ 3000 million, sugar value US$ 5000 million, wages paid 93375 million, contribution to central excllequer at $325 iiiillion and States 175 inillionlyear and emplo\~ment of 5 inillion hands.

Manufacturing Process

In India the factories process hand harvested. hand loaded sugar cane over about 180 days - November tluough April. There are hardly any captive plantations and all cane is purchased from the farnlers. Trallsportatioir of cane is done by aninla1 driven carts, tractor trailors. 10 tons lorries and rail trucks. Yard handlillg and feeding is generally donc by overhead gantry cranes. with grabs or sling bars, llydraulic or mechanical truck, trailor and wagon tipplers.

For juice extraction straight milling with co~npund nlaceration is followed except for a few installatiolls of diE~~sers and hybrid conlbinations of alilling cum diffusioll that came to be adopted but not favoured.

Juice clarification is mostly done by Double Sulphitation process except a small number of units eniploying Doriblc Carbonation or Middle Juice Carbonation.

Concentration of clarified juice is carried out in niultiple eKcct evaporators where double effect vapour cells with rising Glin or falling fill11 vessels followed by quadruple or quintiple effect configurations are finding progressive application with vapour heating of juice and vacutun pans.

The crystallisation is carried out in vacuum pans batch or contilluous type tluee massecuite boiling with remelting of two grades is generally followed. Few units \.vliich book higher purities ofjuices adopt 3 % to 4 iiiassccuite boiling systcars. The boiling schemes are deterinined keepillg in view the quality of sugar and esllaustion of thc final molasses. Production of bold grain sugar with .9 to 1.2 1t11 crystal size 150 ICUMSA colour ~vhich fetch bcttcr price is prcferrcd.

Tlle massecuites~ particularly the l o~v gradc ones are su\?jectccl to cqlstalliser coolilrg and reheating treatment. For B & C nrassecuites continuous crystalliscrs \\lit11 water cooling and reheating or rnassecuites to saturation tenlperaturcs are employed.

i Centrif~rging of A lnasscculte is done with vertical scmi-automatic electric driven or recycling n~achines with variable ACDC drives applying superheated water wash andlor steal11 wash with separation of heavy and

A 1 light 11111 oKmolasses is follo\ved. Low gradc massccuites are generally cured in continuous maclrines. 1 f

Stcanlgcneration is donc in bagasse fired boilcrs nlostly with on line feeding of bagasse. Boilers wit11 generatio~l of stcam Gonl 1 I kg/cm2 to 65 kglcm? are in usc. Under modcrnisation progranmlcs, the low pressure straight

b b e boilers are bcing replaced by high pressure boilers nil11 Dcaerators and waste heat recovery systems for better fuel and steam use efficiencies and in some cases for by product power generation.

Power gene~ation is inostly done by back pressure multistntge turbines. Few units that sell by product or cogeneration power deploy bleeding or condensing turbines.

Sugar produced is centrifugal dried and hopper cooled, graded by vibrating screens for size separation and packed in 100 kgs A Twill jute bags.

i Technology Status I In the areas of process tecl~~iology, India has made significant advances both tlu-ough adoption and absorptioit ofthe international developinents as well as indigenous R&D by the Govenunent run institutions, machinery manufactt~rers and in-house research in the Industry.

The factories in India fall in a wide age group of 1-90 years and the capacity ranges froin 800 to 10000 tons of cane per day. Espansioli of capacities, rehabilitation, lnodenlisation and establishment of new ones had been sinlultaneously 011. The objective of cost reduction is being pursued tlu-ough iinprovenlents in the stage efficiencies and fuel and energ), economics. and economics of scale through capacity expansion and diversification into by product based industries and polver cogeneration etc.

Norms of Efficiency

As a general guideline an Expert Colllrnittce appointed by thc Govenllnellt of India detennined the nonns of efficiency to set a direction for technological improvemeids. These nonns are :

Reduced Mill extration Reduced Overall recovery Total losses % cane Consumption of fuel in tenns of mill wet bagasse %) canc Donn time as percent of available tiinc

Following the tecluiology upgradation and eficicncy iinprovcnlcnt progranlnles scveral factories booked higher efficiency levels. Excellence has becn achievcd in Milling. Boiling House Working, Control of manufacturing losses, fuel and water consulnption and quality of sugar produced, as illustralcd by the following data:

R.M.E. (Straight Milling) 97.9 Final Molasses Purity 24.8 Total losses of suiar %) cane 1.5 Fuel consuinption on Mill Wet Bagasse 'X, Cane 22.0 Water consumption 0.2 Tons/Tons cane Colour of sugar (D.S. Process) 50 ICUMSA I

I

T l ~ o ~ ~ g h the foruin of the India11 Sugar Mills Association. National Federation of Cooperative Factories and the Sugar Teclu~ologists Association, inter unit data is available to all factories on wcckly and nlontl~ly basis and individuals set their bcnchnlarks for eficicncy improvement with better role models. Tllc factories follo\r on open house approach for escha~lge of illfonnatiotl and knowho~v. These f o r ~ ~ m s play very useful role by assisting the inenibcr factories in various matters.

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R&D thrust areas and development

Tlle areas of work on iinproveinents in the proccss design, conrols and machinery and equipment aim at:

8 Iinprovenlents in process designs and control for boosting up of the stage efficiency levels.

0 Maxilnisation of process steal11 economy.

@ Ilnproveinellts in thermal and steam gcneratioil eficiency by employing higher pressure generation I

wit11 heat recovery, cinder refiring, back feeding and automatic colnbustion coiltrol systems.

fa Maxilnisatioa of generation of by product power and cogeneration.

8) Developing system for utilisation of Cane Trash as Ji~el.

0 Adoption of Contiiluous Clarification, evaporation, Pail Boiling, Crystallisation, Centrifuging and auton~atioil thereof.

e Raw and Condellsate Water Managc~nent aiming at zeroing down on generation of liquid effluents

Technological Achievements

During the last two decades the sugar Industry had fast grotvth with improvements in the designs of machinery and equipment vis-a-vis the process and the automated controls, replacement of Low Pressure Steam driven plants and kvaterlbelt driven machines to higher pressure generation and ft~lly electrical and hydraulic drives and variable speed recycling centrifugals etc. The present scellario of the operations vis-a-vis 1956 is as below.

1956 1998

Cane Handling Mostly manual Over head Cranes wit11 GrabsISlings, Hydraulic/ Machanical Tipplers for wagons, Trucks, Trailors & Carts etc.

Preparation & Milling Straight Kni~rcs Reverse Knives, Heavy duty Fibrisors and Shredders, T.R.P.F., GRPF with self setting, constant ratio Mills drive wit11 feed roller with hydraulic loads applied illdependently on feed and discharge rollers, Steam Turbine, Electrical & Hydraulic drives with automated feed, loading and speed adjushne~lts and maceration controls and new 2 Roller Mills.

Steam Generatiorr Low pressure 11 kg Bagasse & Multifuel Boilers with Heat Boiler with out heat rccovery and Cinder refiring system recovery systenl and steam generation upto 65 kg/cm2

Pressure and 5 10°C temperature with autolnated colnbustion controls.

1956 1998

Vertical Steain Multistage back pressme/bleeding/ engines coupled condensing turbines. ACIDC alternators

Continuous reaction vessels in conjunction with vaporised sulpllur burners and autolnatic linlillg and pH controls and use of trayless clarifiers, vacuum filter, filterate clarification by lilae phosphate and phosphoflotation.

Straight Triple Double effect vapo~~r cells wltll use of or Quadruple rising and falling fill11 evaporators and Quintuple

effect, with vapour bleedillg for juice heatillg tlu-ougli dynamic heaters and Pan Boiling.

Pan Boiling Batch Pans Low Head vertical pails with strirrers and continuous Vacuum Pans wit11 automated controls for all grades of Massecuites.

Crystallisatiol~ Batch Air Cooled Vcrtical, Water cooled and heated Crystallisers.

Centrifbging Belt Water or Vcrtical batch variable speed ACIDC Electric drives recycling machines wit11 super heated small sizes wash systems in capacities upto 1750 Kg

and continuous lnachines for low grades.

Sugar Technology Mission - Newer Technologies

Tlle Govt of India established the Sugar Technology Missioll in 1993 with the objective of making a sharp focussed effort in the tech~ological upgradatioa and catalysing the pace of modernisation wit11 introduction of latest proven teclulologies across tlle Industry.

The Mission is working on the agenda of cost reduction, qua lit?^ improvenlent, increase of productivity, energy conservation and improvements in capital output ratio. 30 sugar factories are selected for teclu~ological upgradation and 12 new teclu~ologies and systelns are under trial and assessment. These are :

Clarification of filtrates and syrup by Phosphoflotatioll process Decanter Centrifuge Cane separation systein Integrated Clarification Control Filin type Sttlphur Burner Blanco Dicto process Low Pressure Extraction

• Short Retention Clarifier o NIR Technique - Online assessments

PTH - Scale preventioll Auto Pan Boiling

• Membrane treatnlent of juices

Few of these have been adopted in practice and for others results of evaluation are awaited.

Besides tlie abvoe, the Mission undertakes upgradation stlrvc!r of factories, draws action plans and assists in procuring low cost funding ibr such projects.

Besides, tlic S.T.M. tlic Research Institutes like National Sugar Institute: Vasalatdada Sugar Institute and several Universities and Natiolial Laboratories are also involved in the fundaliielital and applied research work. Work om Menibrane Filteration, liquid cl~omatography, Antomatic Absorption Spectro Photometry, application of M~cro Video Systems and Ion Exclialige etc. is being done. t?

Few factories have gone in for integrated refineries via Defeco Melt Clarification process.

Poor opcratilig ecol~o~iiics have bceli responsible for i~isldequate participation of the industry in research 11

institutions which are Govt. controlled. The applied research work is neither industry directed nor, in effect, user based, and is appearing to be disjointed and there is serious need of participative applied research work to keep up tlie pace of all round development.

Jn the bygone years the industry has. however. maintained tile dyl~anilsm required to nieet the home delilalid of tlie growing pol?ulatioa: rising living standards and per capita consumption and is well poised to keep it up in future.

Policy lsues

Sugar in India is a regulated industry. tlie currcnt policy rcgimc is cliaracterised by followiiig features. 1 (a) Sugar is regulated by Central Government and canc by respective Stale govenln~enls. I/ (b) Cane is paid 011 \veigkt basis as delivered by farmcrs wlth only 1% deduction for binding and extraneous 1

matter. I11 actual practice it is ~iiuch Iilglier.

(c) Union Go1.t. deteniiincs tlic s t a t u t o ~ ~ ~ Minimum price (S.M.P.) of cane (floor price). Cmreatly it is Rs, 52.70 linked lo 8.50'%, reco\,ery of sugas 'M, halie with a prcmium of Rs. 0.62 per point rise of recovery. State Gover~i~iments. ho\\~e\.cr. decide their own Advised Price of cane disregarding tlie econonlics of working.

(d) Under thc policy of partial dccoatrol. l~lllls are requircd to dclivcr 40% of the productioli to the Go\.eniment called Levy Sugar ~vl i~ch is sold tlir6ugh Public Distribution System at prices lower than cost of production of sugar based 011 S.M.P. Balance 60'%, sugar is thus free for sale in tlie open nlarket \vliich is sub-ject to the monthly releases by the Govi. Current ex-factory price of levy is due at Rs. 10221- per quintal and the d i n g price of free Sugar is Rs. 13551- per quintal ~iiakillg all average es- factory realisation of approximately Rs 12081- pcr quintal, ~vliicli is much below the break cven cost. Go~~er~iment not only procures levy sugar but also regulates tlie prices of free sale sugar through the ~ilechalilslil of monthly releases.

(e) Import of sugar is ulider Open Ge~icral License with a 20%, Custoni Duty and Rs. 851- per yunital ...

countewa~!rng Duty. I

$ (f) Union Govt. lc\~ics Excise Duty and Sugar Ccss ~vh~cl i is (8 Rs. 521- per quliital and of levy sugar ( i j j *;

Rs.851- pcr yuliital of Gce sale sugar. On Molasses. Exclse Duty is levied at Ks. 501- per q~~nital . 1

tl

il (g) Slate Govts. ie\y Purchase Tax on Sugar Cam at I ar~ring rates of Rs. 201- to Rs. 1001- per ton.

(h) Sugar manufactured is supposed to be of I.S.S. Grades. Currently 3 grain size and 2 colour standards \ \ are in practice. Plantation white Sugar IS1 Specification are as follows:

I

\ "Pol Mill 99.5% Invert Max 0.1% Specific Conductivity 1 0 0 ~ 1 f13 n111os Moist Max 0.08% Colour ICUMSA Max 10 Units SO, Max 70 ppln Water Solubles Max 0.1% Ca Max 30 mg/100 gm"

(i) Sugar is required to be packed in 100 Kg A Twill jute bags only.

fi) Sugar Cane supplies, in nlost of States. are regulated tlu-ough Coop. Cane Societies on conlnlission paynlent basis.

(k) Cane supplies to the Mills by farmers in nlany States, particularly in North India are supposed to be made on equitable basis disregarding maturity of cane.

! (I) Recovery of Sugar % Cane follows a parabolic pattern over the duration of the season with wide

I swings.

(111) Approved sugar cane varieties are released for different zones by the Govt.

(n) The overall productivity of sogar/l~a/yr swings around 6.5 Tons only.

I Outloolc - Policy Charges Considering the need for a review of the sugar and sugar canc policies, the Union Gold. in 1997 appointed a High Powered Conunittee (Mahajan Conunittee) with broad Tenns of Reference and the Cornmitee in the report has suggested a recast of the policies to makc them industry friendly and productivity oriented. Briefly, deregulation and lifting of controls, abolition of L e y and PDS and a rationale for fixation of sugar cane price have been suggested besides other measures like linking cane price to sugar content of cane and private participation in Research on Cane and Teclulologies. The report of the Comnlittee is being examined by the Governnlent. Meanwhile. establislunent of new sugar factorics has been delicensed but with a spatial distance of 15 KM \vhich the industry considers to be detrimental to thc expansion cv11icl1 is necessary for the economies of scale in future for containing the cost of production. It is my considered opinion that the Govt. should not impose too Inany regulations and allow the industries to work nlore freely.

The industv needs a lcvel playing field which is denied by the cross dumping of sugar in India under low I

/ tariffs by countries subsidising their csport and it is expectcd that the Govt. will introduce custoln tariffs to provide the llolne industry a level playing field with global competition.

I Environment - Pollution Controls

Environmental protection is receiving serions attention of the Govt. as well as the industry. State Level Pollation Control Boards are entrusted \\it11 tkc responsibility of lnonitorillg and enforcing coinpliance with the lzolns of tolerance for water and air pollution.

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Liquid effluent discharge is requircd to coifor~n to the tolerallce of 30 BOD and particulate emission with flue gasses ranging from 250 to 800 mg/NMQcpellding on the type of boiler design. For different design of funlaces the tolerances are different i.e. Step Grate 250, Horse Shoe 500 and Spredder stoker 800 mg/NM3 and Co, at 12%.

Sugar Mills have optimised the use of water by adopting condensate classification, conservation and recycling of coolant water to miniinise intake of raw gro~uld water and the generation liquid effluent. Basically the process of sugar manufacture does not necessarily generate efluent and cane water is suffcient to process it. Realising this principle, recycling is being adopted. Factories are however installing effluent treatment plants providing for equalisation, pH make up, activated sluge degradation, settling and drying of sediments.

Sugar factories are located in the agriculture belts and these effluents are not having objectionable pollution loads. There is really no need of treating thcm down to 30 BOD as the same can be profitably utilised for fertigation.

For control of the air pollution, generally multicyclones are iilcorporated in flue paths to arrest the fly ash and illstallation of scrubbing of flue gases are also being made progressively.

The distilleries are taking to the process of bio methanation to recover energy from the spent wash, use the gas as fuel in boilers and finally use the treated water for irrigation. Many distilleries are reported to have become s e l f - s ~ ~ c i e n t in respect of their fuel, steam and energy req~iirc~nents through such effluent treahnent projects.

Several distilleries attached with sugar ~nills have taken to the production of Bio Manure by use of Press Mud aild distillery spent wash. This is getting popular with twin objective of pollution control as well as return of useful soil ingredients back to it for good soil health.

Industry & Technologists Association

Indian Sugar Mills Association headquartered at New Delhi with regional branches in state capitals looks after the proble~ns of the nleinber factories in the private and public sector and likewise the National Federation of Cooperative Sugar Factories headquartered at Delhi wit11 regional State Federations provides st~pport and guidance to the Cooperative Sector factories.

Sugar Technologists in India have a 3000 member strong Association serving as a forum for exchange of information. The Association holds seminars and workshops on various subjects during the year and one Annual Convention wherein the research and developinelit work and other improvements made are reported and discussed. Regional Associations like Deccan Sugar Teclu~ologists Association & South Indian Sugar Association which are afiliated to the S.T.A.1, also perfonn siniilar functions for benefit of members in the region. The Associations are represented in all policy making bodies of the Govt, of India and thus play a very useful role.

To summarise I must conclude that the Sugar Industry in India is in a rapid phase of growth and is poised to maintain its position as the highest producer of sugar in the world and should be in the export market soon in a sizeable way.

Diversitication - By Products

Diversification on by-products is yet another important thrust area and the sugar mills are going in for-

* Alcohol Distilleries Organic Ckeinicals Pulp

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Paper Particle Boards Power - Bio Manures

to supplement their reverses.

Molasses

Molasses is mainly being used for production of alcohol, liquor and organic chemicals.

There ar 285 distilleries in the country with licensed capacity of 2700 million litres. Alcol~ol productioll is of the order of 1200 Million Litreslyear. About 40% of the production is used for potable liquor and a similar percentage for industrial uses i.e. alcohol and chemicals.

India now claims to have the largest chemical industry in the world using sugar cane molasses as feed stock. Alcol~ol based Acetaldehyde, Acetic Acid, Poly Vinyl Chloride, (PVC) & Mono Ethylene Glycol (MEG), Vinyl Acetal Monomer etc. are being produced. Elsewhere these are produ~ced via petro chemical route. India tllus contributes to minimisation of the Green House effect. Plans are also being made to use ethanol as blend for motor f ~ ~ e l . Gola Distillery has been identified for the plant scale trials for production of anhydrous alcohol for blending with petrol. Heavy vehicular air pollution in the Meros and other cities is planned to be constrained through use of Gasohol.

Press Cake

Press Cake the other by produce wluch was considered a waste is now being increasingly utilised for production of Bio Manure to substitute at least partly the che~nical fertilisers. Several units are already in commercial production. Technology has also been developed for production of fuel gas from the Press Mud. I hope in near future the Press Mud will become an even more valuable by-product.

I Bagasse

Canlpaign of steal11 and fu~el econolnies have resulted in collsiderable savings of bagasse. Its use as fibrous resource for paper. card board and Particle Boards has been encouraged. Today India has one of the largest news print plant (TNPL) based on bagasse besides nuunber of small paper and particle board plants. Commercial use of bagasse for cheinicals is also being explored.

Co-generation

Anlongst the diversification in the Cane Sugar Industry in India presently the tlm~st is on Cogeneration or generation of ~ ~ - ~ i o d u c t ' Power which interalia involve modernisation of Stealn generation and Power production equipnlents and measures in the Plant for reduction of steam demand of prime movers and the exhaust deanmd of the Process House.

The Power potential of the Sugar Industry is reckoned at 3200 MW and in view of the overall shortage of power in the country, exploitation of ths non collventional source of power is considered to be a good avenue of Incoiile supplelnent to the Sugar Mills.

To encourage this the Ministry of Non-Conventional Energy sources have extended assistance by providing Financial assistance for setting up of demonslration plants, cheaper Ioans, benefits of higher depreciation etc. The State Electricity Boards have given facilities like ~vhccling, ballking, b~~y-back and third party sales of power to the producers. Power is purchased at the Basic raie of Rs. 2.25 per Unit with provision for price escalation. However, lack of coordillatioll whercing the Govt, and State Electricity Boards of different states has proved as hindrance in fast pick up of thc cogeneration of power. To accelerate harnessing of the power production potential the Electricity Boards need to be more receptive and friendly.

USAID is involved in promotion of bagasse and agri fuel based cogeneration under the Green House Pollutioil I Prevention Project known as GEP Project and collectioil and use of sugarcane trash as co-fuel. Cane trash

collection and bailing trials have been initiated, the success of which will provide low moisture and higher I heating value fuel to supplement 7 tons of Trash fuel will be available per Ha of cane. Large number of nlills

I have developed plans for Cogeneration, 20 are already operational producing over 150 MW and about the

I sanle is under inlplementatioi~.

The cogeneration and by-product power generation has promoted use of higher steam pressure 65 BAR and temperature of 5 10 deg. C. and change of Steam Tilrbine drive of mills to variable DC or hydraulic drives.

Cane Complexes

Setting up of Sugar complexes is being idealogically encouraged. Sugar factories located in ~ u r a l areas act as I a focal point for the econo~nic progress of thc rural masses. Many of the sugar factories, specially in the I

cooperative sector, have alredy taken up various development progranme for providing ed~lcational and medical facilities, co~~stnlction of small irrigation pro.jccts and roads, etc. Some of the factories have also set up I

distilleries, chemical units, paper plants etc., for the utilisation of by-products as'aiulexed units. However, the I I

focus now is on cogeneration of electricity and on setting up of by-product based industries such as distilleries, I

chenlical plants, aninla1 feed units, paper units ctc., in an integrated nlanner to thereby develop them into sugar 1 coinplexes. Even with teclu~ologies available the pace of crcation of multiproduct co~npleses has been slow I

I due to uilfrieildly policies and controls on raw material like molasses. Even though Union Govt. has lifted colltrol, several states still continue to cling to it. Controls and regulations are acting as deterrent to this creation of complexes for full use of the sugar cane as potcnlial raw material.

Engineering Industry support

The engineering industry in India is v e v well developed. Se~teral coinpanies are involved in the action alld about a dozen finns are capable of building hinlkey plants ~vith nlodern nlachinery and good degree of automation. Besides these a number of engineering f m s are ui [lie business offoundries, machine and fabrication shops to turn out various equipment and coinpoaents. Capacitywise 15-16 complcte plants can be made each year. Besides lneeting the requirement of the expallding industry in India. the sugar machinery & projects are being exported to different countries.

Man Power & Training

India has largest tcclulical manpower and besides nuiilber of Universities and Engineering Colleges and Polyteclu~ics the National Sugar Institute. Kanpur and Sugarcane Breeding Institute, Coiinbatore nln by Governnlent of India and Vasant Dada Sugar Institute. Coimbatore nln by Govenunent of India and Vasant Dada Sugar Institute. Punc nin by Co-operative Sugar factories provide for ppost graduate level of education in Sugr Teclu~ology. Sugar Engineering and Sugarcane Agriculture specifically designed for Sugar Industry. Large nttinber of I~~stitutioi~s are functioning to turn out Management Persolnlel. Besides, short term technician training progralniners are organised from rile to time. A nelv Institute for Sugar Teclmology and Engineering education and research is also being established at MAU in Eastern part of the country.

Sugarcane Breeding and varictal testing is bcing done by Sugarcane Breeding Instit~ite at Coimbatore, the home of CO varieties which arc spread all 01 er thc world. Sugar lnen arc also trained there at Post Graduate lcvel.

Sugar T\vechnictll Education :

The National Sugar Institute has by no\\ turned out 2394 Sugar Teclu~ologists iilcluding 79 foreigners, 509 Sugar Engineers imluding 28 foreigners, 658 Alcohol Tcch~~ologists including 12 foreigners and produced

13 1 Ph.Ds Besides thcse it nnls various short tern1 teclu~ology courses as given below.

S. No. Courses Indian Foreign Total

1. A.N.S.I. (Sugar Tech.) 2315 79 2394 2. A.N.S.I. (Sugar Engg.) 48 1 2 8 5 09 3. D.I.F.A.T. 646 12 65 8 4. S.E.C.C. 240 17 257 5. S.B.C.C. 1264 3 2 1296 6. P.H.C.M.S. 141 05 146 7. F.N.S.I. 43 43 8. Ph. U. 130 0 1 13 1

The V.S.I. at Pune established 2 decades ago also conducts similar course each year turning out about 100 Teclulicians in various disciplincs.

Sugarcane breeding and varietal testing is being done by Sugarcane Breeding Institute at Coilnbatore, the home of CO varieties cvhicll are spread all 01 er the world. Sugar ~nen are also trained there at Post Graduate level.

SUGAR CANE I As mnentioned earlier sugar mills in India buy canc fronl farn~ers. The Sugarcane Breeding InstitLite at Coilnbatore established by Dr. Barber and Sir Veikatraman in 191 2 is thc priine institutiioil for breeding and hybridisation of cane varieties and CO varieties are f o ~ ~ n d not only in India but in every sugar country of the world. The sugar Industry is grateful to these pioneers.

India being a vast country, the sugarcanc arcas are locatcd both in the Sub-Tropics and Tropics.

Recognising the speciiic requirement of various Agro clinlatic rcgions the breeding progralmnes are ~u~dertaken. The Institute tnaintains the National Hybridisation garden to idcntifjr varieties suitable for various regions and conditions. India has the largest collection of Genn Plasnl which is utilised for l~ybridisation for evolving high sugar, high yielding and desease resistant varietics.

A net work of 24 research centres located in nla.jor sugarcanc rcgions parlicipates in the breeding programme. Under the All India Coordinated Research prqicct, varieties are tested in different locatiollsof each zone to identie location specific ones. 111 this way a wide spectnun of varieties suited for different envirolunental conditions is available. Varieties for 2005 are alrcady in the pipe line.

85 varieties of sugarcane arc presently in cultivation in different zones. Do~ninance of varieties in eacl~ region depends on their adaptability under the conditions. Varictics are identified as Early (16% Sucrose 85 Py) 10 lnonths Mid (1 8%) Sucrose 85 Py) 12 months and Late ( I 6%) Sucrose 85 Py) 14 months.

Due to gro~ving pressure on land the emphasis is bcillg laid on developing short duration (8-9 months) varieties. Under the sugarcane based cropping system' colnpanion cropping is being encouraged for improving the fanning econon1ics.

The nlajor constraints to the high productivit~~ of sugarcane are ~noisture stress, diseases like red rot, grassy shoot. wilt, ratoon stunting etc., and inajor pests likc shoot, stcnl and root borer, Pyrilla, ternlites and rodents etc.

The diseases and pests are really posing a serious threat to sugarcane production. Nearly 130 diseases and 160 insect pests have been recorded to effect sugarcane. The crop losses due to thenl vary from 15 to 20 per cent in

terms of quality and quantity. Integrated approach is bcing madc to combat these problems, placing enlphasis on host plant resistence.

Adverse effects of high nitrogen and low phosphate, potash and other eleillents on cane juice are being felt. Keeping this in view organic fanning 1.e. use of bionlallures is being encouraged and several factories have taken to the production of the bioinanures by utilisation of wastes.

Envirolunent friendly - Integrated Pest Management is being progressively followed with application of biological control of pests and improving the helpful c111tural practices Several establishment of Biological Control Labs have coille up in the factory areas and avoidance of pesticides use is targetted.

To accelerate the quaiitive and quaatitive development of sugarcane and increase the productivity a closer coordination of the Research Institutions and Industry and I would even say that privatisation of research is required.

Lab to land programlnes of the research institutions and field estension services by factories to educate the farmers on suitable varieties and cultn~al practices input management, co-cropping etc. are popularly contributing to the field productivity.

Conclusion - To conclude, I inust say that the Sugar Industry in India is most cost effective and consunler friendly and yet n~isunderstood because of political overtones. I t is necessary that it is deregulated for meeting the increasing dellland and exports for which great potential esists in India. Unfettered by the controls and politics the industry in India can surely retain its position of highest producer of sugar in the world and be cost competitive in the global markets.