Bidar: The Naranja Sahakari Sakkare Karakhane will provide a compensation of Rs 10,000 a hectare to sugarcane growers whose crop is not sold. This is apart from compensation of Rs 25,000 a hectare announced by the State Government, factory chairman Gurupadappa Nagamarapalli said in Janawada village on Tuesday.

He announced the decision was taken by the board of directors at the factory's general body meeting. The factory would continue crushing cane till it starts raining. All efforts would be made to ensure that the cane grown by share-holding farmers was crushed. However, if some cane was left uncrushed, it would be compensated for, he said. The factory estimates that around 36,000 tonnes of sugarcane is left uncrushed as of now, he said.

The factory has access to sugarcane on 25,000 acres of land in the district. In this season, it crushed 5.8 lakh tonnes of sugarcane, which is more than its capacity. The factory has produced 6.26 lakh quintals of sugar with a recovery rate of 10.88 per cent. The factory has also produced and sold electricity worth Rs 3.69 crore in its cogeneration plant.

Price

The factory plans to pay Rs. 1,075 a tonne for sugarcane purchased. This includes Rs. 800 towards the cost of sugarcane, Rs. 250 towards harvesting and transport charges and Rs. 25 towards non-returnable deposits. Farmers will also get a kg of sugar per tonne of sugarcane supplied as bonus. The factory will also pay an additional Rs. 300 a tonne for sugarcane if the financial condition of the factory was favourable, he said.

Dues

The factory had paid the dues of all farmers who had supplied cane till January 31. Dues of the farmers whose cane was procured later would be settled in the next two months, he said.

The factory plans to double its operating capacity to 5,000 tonnes crushed per day (TCD) from the present 2,500 TCD. It would augment the power generation capacity to 21 MW from 8 MW. The factory will also start a biodiesel, distillery and bio fertilizer units in the next few years, Mr. Nagamarapalli added.

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