Now sugarcane cultivation will be promoted in Bhagalpur. For this, Sugarcane Industry Minister Krishnanandan Paswan has talked about setting up a sweet industry for sugarcane farmers. He said that where sugarcane is not cultivated, the department has started Jaggery Processing Plant Scheme i.e.
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The government gives 50% subsidy on Rs 1 crore for setting up a sweet industry. Farmers should set up sweet industry. There is a lot of money in it. To increase sugarcane cultivation in Pirpainti of Bhagalpur, applications are being made for a jaggery processing plant.
It is known that in Pirpainti, where farming was once done in thousands of hectares, now farming has been limited to 50 acres. Jaggery business has been affected.
The area of Peerpainti Shivnarayanpur was very famous for jaggery.
The area of Pirpainti Shivnarayanpur of Bhagalpur was very famous for jaggery, because almost the farmers here were dependent on sugarcane cultivation. In the decade of 1980-90, farming was done on 50 thousand hectares here. Farmers used to prepare jaggery and send it to different states of the country like Karnataka, Delhi, West Bengal, Chennai, Odisha and many others.
Today the situation is such that farming has been limited to 50 acres. Only a few farmers are cultivating sugarcane. The farmers who are cultivating sugarcane are not completely dependent on it. The way the traders of Peerpainti and Shivnarayanpur market used to get orders, it is becoming difficult to get orders.
Not getting proper payment for jaggery
Jaggery is not getting fair price. Neither the wholesalers, nor the retailers, nor the farmers are making profit from this. In such a situation, the farmers of the area have been engaged in cultivating maize, wheat and potatoes from sugarcane for the last 3 decades.
In the area which was famous for the fragrance of sugarcane and sweetness of jaggery, farmers have started turning away from sugarcane cultivation. Where once 50 thousand hectares were cultivated, now sugarcane cultivation has been limited to 50 acres. Is. The indifferent attitude of the government, slow market and lack of water for irrigation have become the main reasons for this.
Farming was done in 50000 hectares.
Pirpainti farmer and jaggery trader Lalan Upadhyay told that earlier sugarcane was cultivated in thousands of hectares here. His farming alone was 20 acres, now it has come down to 5 acres. Mango trees are being planted in the fields. Farmers are not getting profit, there is no water for irrigation and neither are they able to get market. Also there is no sugar mill.
The government increased the price of sugarcane by Rs 20, it will be beneficial where there is a sugarcane mill. The attitude of the government is indifferent; there is no arrangement for the sugarcane farmers in Peerpainti.
Farmers said that there should be arrangements for irrigation.
Prabhat Kumar, Director of Agricultural Technology Management Agency, Bhagalpur of the Agriculture Department, said that sugarcane cultivation was done on a large scale in Bhagalpur. It is not happening now. Jaggery is very beneficial. Doctors also advise to eat jaggery, hence we have taken initiative to revive agriculture. Some identified farmers who cultivated sugarcane on a large scale, those 25 farmers were sent to Lucknow for training on improved sugarcane cultivation.
From there, farmers will now grow sugarcane crop with the new technology after testing it. Said that with the new technology the yield of sugarcane will also increase and there will be a change in the quality. Said that as jaggery is costlier than sugar, we want more farmers to cultivate sugarcane and produce jaggery and earn profits.
The government should keep an eye on the sugarcane farmers of Pirpainti. There should be a system of irrigation. If markets are found for the sale of jaggery and sugar mills are established nearby, then the days of the farmers here will be prosperous again and the fields will flourish with sugarcane again.
