The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : State to import cane cutters from China

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Tuesday, Aug 26, 2008
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

State to import cane cutters from China

Staff Reporter

“Plan to start co-generation plants in mills”

All 17 sugar mills to get two machines each
Cheyyar sugar mills is the first to equip field staff with simputer

Tiruvannamalai: Tamil Nadu will import 34 cane cutting machines each costing Rs.35 lakh from China to help sugarcane farmers who are struggling with soaring wages and scarcity of labour, Agriculture Minister Veerapandi S. Arumugam has said.

Speaking at a symposium on ‘Simputer and Computerisation’ organised by Cheyyar Sugar Mills in Cheyyar on Sunday, the Minister said that there were 17 public sector and co-operative sugar mills in the State. All these mills will get two such machines to help out farmers who are complaining that the wage for cane cutting is soaring.

Praising Cheyyar sugar mills for successfully operating co-generation plants, the Minister said that the government was planning to start co-generation plants in all the 17 co-operative and public sector sugar mills in the State. The plan will be executed at the cost of Rs.925 crore and collective capacity of these co-generation plants will be 188 MW, he said.

Mr. Arumugam said that the Cheyyar sugar mills was the first sugar mill in the country to equip its field staff with simputer, an easy to carry, simplified computer, used on the field to record details of farmers, crop, registration, growth etc.

This will, the Minister said, ensure seniority based issuance of cutting order.

‘Nelli’ cultivation

Electricity Minister Arcot N. Veerasamy, said that the government is in the process of permitting production of rectified spirit and ethanol in sugar mills. This will help co-operative sugar mills to recover from losses.

He advised farmers to take up ‘Nelli’ (Indian gooseberry) cultivation as an alternative to paddy.

“I myself cultivate Nelli in 40 acres out of 120 acres of agricultural land owned by me. A profit of Rs.75,000 to 85,000 can be realised from each acre of Nelli from third year onwards,” he added.

Food Minister E.V.Velu, Sugar Commissioner Atulya Mishra, Agricultural Commissioner S.Kosalaraman, District Collector M.Rajendran, Vandavasi MP Gingee N Ramachandran, Special officer of Cheyyar Sugar mills R.Vanitha, MLAs K Pichandi, S.P.Jayaraman, M.K.Vishnuprasad, S.Sivanandam spoke.

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