Belagavi: The acute water shortage in north Karnataka has not only hit the sugarcane growers badly, but also the sugar factories. Many have decided to stop their cane crushing operations early this year as a result of the water crisis.
While most water sources have dried up , the water from borewells and other alternative sources is not enough for the factories to carry out their crushing operations, forcing many like Satish Sugars, Heera Sugars and Raibag Sugars to call a halt to them. It is believed 16 other factories in Belagavi region may follow suit as well.
Farmers who have not been paid their dues by sugar factories, could now face an even worse situation. Despite the water scarcity, growers in many drought-prone areas of north Karnataka have cultivated sugarcane in large quantities this season, looking forward to the start of the crushing operations by the factories. But now they could be staring at huge losses instead.
Most sugar factories in the state were able to crush sugarcane until the end of April last year. But this year they are not likely to go on owing to the water shortage.
A drastic fall in the crushing of sugarcane could result in a huge fall in sugar production in the state, especially in the sugarcane-rich districts of north Karnataka.
While over 36 lakh tonnes of sugar was produced by 64 factories till February end, the production of sugar will not go up much more if the lean phase continues, say industry sources. Neighbouring Maharashtra, which tops in production of sugar in the country , has also been badly affected by the present crisis.
