Cane growers stress their demand to reopen Alanganallur sugar mill

‘2,000 acres under sugarcane cultivation in Alanganallur, East Madurai, Melur, Tirumangalam and Sholavandhan have been registered with the mill’

Sugarcane grown on P. Narayanan’s 10-acre land in Vellalore in Melur taluk in Madurai district would be ready for harvest at this time of the year for nearly 50 years. But the land has been left unused since 2019 and so has been the National Cooperative Sugar Mill at P. Mettupatti near Alanganallur.

The second generation sugarcane farmer said the mill began its commercial operations in 1966, becoming a boon to him and other cane farmers, but the State closed it temporarily over shortage of sugarcane supply.

“The mill saw growers from Alanganallur, East Madurai, Melur, Tirumangalam, Aruppukottai and Sholavandhan. Around 2,000 acres of land under sugarcane cultivation has been registered with it,” said N. Palanisamy, State president, Tamil Nadu Sugarcane Farmers Association.

The farmers lamented that they sufferred losses since the procurement price at the mill was ₹2,950 per tonne but private mill owners and middlemen did not quote prices over ₹1,500. They also meddle with weighing.

“The waiting time at private mills is a huge hindrance. It even takes three days to unload, which may affect the quality of the produce and increase transportation cost,” noted Kalimuthu, a farmer.

Meanwhile, more farmers, aiming at supply for State’s ‘Pongal gift hamper’, cultivated ‘Senkarumbu’, a variety of sugarcane cultivated only for Pongal. “But they have been let down by the State this year,” he added.

“After burning sugarcane produced in 2019, I switched to cultivate paddy and banana,” said Mr. Narayanan. Most farmers, especially in Melur, who used to cultivate ‘Aalakarumbu’ to be sent to sugar mills, moved on to other crops.