Sarlahi, Mar. 28:Biswonath Singh of Balara VDC Ward No. 7. in Sarlahi district has been discouraged to grow sugarcane next year because of the failure to transport sugarcane grown in five bighas of land to the sugar mill.

Mr Singh has been growing sugarcane in his land as well as leasing land from others. Generally sugarcane should be cut within the month of Magh ( Feb ) and reach the sugar mill through various sugarcane weighing spots and be paid for it in time, but delays on it have hampered it all.

Mr Singh says –  if the sugarcane is not transported until Jestha this year it will cause a negative impact on the sugarcane and other crops next year.

The people of Sarlahi have been attracted to sugarcane farming as it is easy to grow and more beneficial for them from the financial point of view.

The ripe sugarcanes which had to be cut and transported two months ago are left to dry in the  field so far. As the sugarcanes which have already been cut are lying in the weighing centers and farms, it causes drastic loss of weight and loss to the   farmers, a  farmer of Balara Mani Bhushan Singh says.

According to Mr Singh, the  farmers have been discouraged  to grow sugarcane because of the delay caused in the transportation than in cutting of the sugarcane.

Hathiyoul VDC chairman Biswomohan Singh says the sugar mills should be efficient in their works as the mills established with tens of millions of rupees can even face closure if the farmers stoped growing sugarcane.

Sugar mills should make financial contributions to farmers for  the development and extension  of sugarcane farming but the situation here is different, says ex-chairman of Bauharawa VDC Ram Dinesh Sharma.

He says – sugarcane farming is easy  as it gives crops for four years after planting it once.

If cutting of sugarcane is done in time, second crops like mustard, musuro and  mung pulses, and alas can be grown in the same field.

The farmers  here have been growing sugarcane in three bighas out of every five bighas of land.

According to industrial  officer of the Malangawa Cottage and Small Scale Industry office Krishna Bahadur Karki, more than 85 per cent of the people are engaged in sugarcane farming here. The scenes around here is mainly of sugarcane farms.

There are two sugar mills in Sarlahi district. The Hariyon Sugar Mill has a capacity of crushing 25,000- 50,000 quintals of sugar cane a day. The other Bachchababu Khan Khandsari Sugar Mill is located at Pipariya, Pirari which has a capacity of crushing   1,000 quintals of sugarcane a day, acording to engineer of the mill Chandrika Prasad Saha.

Likewise, the Khandsari Sugar Mill has a production capacity of 30- 35 quintals  of  sugar a day. More than 200 workers and 25 staffs have been employed in the mill.

The sugarcane from Sarlahi is also transported to Garuda  Sugar Mill of Rautahat district and  Ramnagar Sugar Mill of Mahottari district which have considerable capacity. But Biswo Mohan Singh of Chhatauna alleges that the payment for the sugarcane transported from here is not made in time.

Every year the price of sugar has increased but not  the price of sugarcane. The sugar mills have been paying the farmers Rs 122 for a quintal of sugarcane these days.

In  each of the 99 VDCs in Sarlahi district, there are 3/4 spots fixed for weighing sugarcane but the weighed sugarcane have been languishing for lack of transport facilities.

At the weighing stations, only 2 or 3 trucks come to transport sugarcane every ten days when at least five trucks a day is required to transport sugarcance.

Arun Singh of Balara ward No 8 says the sugarcane of the affluent  and sycophants are transported first and paid while others  have to wait a long time for their turn.

As a result of the sugar mills, the transportation facilities have increased   in the inner villages as trucks, trailers and buses come where nobody even thought of  building roads.

The farmer whose land is used for installation of the weighing machine are paid rent for use of the land and one of the family members is employed as chaukidar.

There is no difficulty in transporting and making payment for the sugarcane in the Riga Sugar Mill located at the bordering town of Sitamadhi, India, Dharma Dev Pandey of Basbitta says.

The local people have lodged a complaint over the pollution caused around the mill area as a result of the  use of sulfur in the juice of sugarcane in order to make the sugar grains bigger.