PANAJI
In a bid to revive the Sanjivani Sahakari Sakhar Karkhana Limited (SSSK) – the State’s lone sugar factory at Dharbandora, shut since 2019 – the Goa government has undertaken a fresh feasibility study to align the industry with global markets by exploring high-value sugar types such as organic and sulphur-free varieties, along with jaggery production.
The Public-Private Partnership (PPP) cell is currently working on the tender to have an integrated sugar and distillery at the factory. A fresh tender is expected to be out by the end of this month.
Previous attempts to revive the factory through private investors failed miserably. While in 2022, the two bidders, who opted for the Request for Qualification bid, failed to qualify, in 2024, not a single bidder showed interest.
Speaking to The Goan, PPP Cell director Rajan Satardekar said that a fresh feasibility study of the factory was conducted through a private agency, having expertise in the global market, and having industry connections. “We are now exploring various options for diversification. We need to align the sugar factory with growing market demand. Today people are looking at new high-value sugar types like organic, sulphur free, jaggery, etc. We will be exploring these options through our new tender,” he said.
Also, Satardekar said that the ethanol plant would be in a subsidiary form. “We are currently working on the new tender, which will be out by the end of September,” he said, adding that the tender would be floated at national level.
Satardekar said that the tender proposal will look more promising now with fresh options being explored.
A 21-member Sugarcane Farmers Facilitation Committee in its report stressed on the revival of the factory apart from intensive extension of services to farmers for increasing their sugarcane production, adoption of suitable varieties of cane with high sugar content, etc.
The committee recommended production from sugar to ethanol and promoting nearby jaggery-making units to support farmers.
The ailing SSSK- Goa’s lone sugar factory- closure has significantly impacted more than 700 sugarcane farmers in the State, who for the past three to four years relied on the hope to see its revival, before a large number of them shifted to cultivation of other crops and are either no longer growing sugarcane or the production is much below what it was in the past.
From the production of a whopping 47,000 tonnes of sugarcane, it has now been limited to only 10,000 metric tonnes, which is being supplied to the mills in Karnataka and Maharashtra at zero profit.
The government has recently notified special scheme to procure the sugarcane produced by the farmers at the Central government notified Fair and Remunerative Price (FRP). The scheme is in place for a period of two years. Under the scheme, sugarcane cultivated by Farmers/Cultivators will be supplied at the factory, and will be weighed there and provided/paid financial assistance as per FRP from time to time. The sugarcane will be procured by the government appointed agency.
