S. Nijalingappa Sugar Institute

Around 6.00 lakh hectares area is under sugarcane in Karnataka state. But every district has its own geographical and climatic conditions. Therefore the yield varies from 25Mts to 125 MTs with an average yield of 65 MTs in the state. The agriculture practices, cane varieties, use of water, application of proper nutrients, use of pesticides, fertilizers, etc defer from district to district. During 2010-11 season 57 sugar mills were operational in Karnataka with an annual crushing capacity of 404.00 lakh MTs. But they could crush 340.00 lakh MTs which shows that there is large scope for improvement in the productivity. The existing mills are in the process of expansion and quite a few new entrepreneurs are showing interest in setting up of new sugar mills. As many as 23 new sugar mills are approved and would create an additional crushing capacity of 120.00 lakh MTs of sugarcane in the next 2 years. The by-products like Ethanol, Power and press mud add to the viability of the mills.

There is a need for continuous research and development in the field of sugarcane cultivation, sugar mill operation, distillation and co-generation. To provide such research support to the cane farmers as well as sugar mills Government of Karnataka have set up S.NIJALINGAPPA SUGAR INSTITUTE, at Belgaum which is the largest producer of sugarcane and sugar. There are 20 sugar mills in Belgaum district followed by 10 sugar mills in Bagalkot district.

S.Nijalingappa Sugar Institute, Belgaum provides continuous training, demonstration for the benefit of the farmers. The performance of sugar mills is regularly reviewed and suitable suggestions are made to improve. Training programmes are also regularly conducted for the benefit of working staff in sugar engineering and sugar technology. A website in the name of salcogen.gov.in has also been launched to provide basic information to the farmers and sugar mills.
I hope the sugar mills and sugarcane farmers in Karnataka will take the help of S.Nijalingappa Sugar Institute, Belgaum in improving their productivity and technology.

Suggestions to improve our services are most welcome.

DIRECTOR,
S.Nijalingappa Sugar Institute,

Belgaum.