CS approves rice mill near Goa's only sugar factory

Goa's only sugar factory, the  Sanjivani Sugar factory which is reeling under losses incurred by the factory over the years is expected to get a parallel establishment in the form of a rice processing mill to cope up with the losses. The proposal was approved last week by the Chief secretary of Goa Mr Hauzel Haukhum in a special  committee meeting chaired by him. A 50% financial assistance for the project is to be granted by the central government while the remaining balance will have to be raised by the factory.

While the factory is awaiting the final sanction of central funds  for the modern mill , the management is not averse to investing the balance 50% with a view to reap in profits by running of the mill. The factory officials have reportedly conducted various studies  and they have ascertained that most of the farmers in Goa are willing to process their paddy at the mill, should it be set up. The factory has in the meanwhile narrowed down on a particular type of mill costing around Rs 1.5 crore.

It is believed that nearly 4000 tonnes of paddy is transported outside Goa for processing and the farmers of these quantities are willing to shift loyalties to the new rice mill when it comes up. There are an estimated 2000 farmers in Goa who have shown their willingness to process the paddy in Goa if such a plant were to come up in the state.

Sugarcane farmers are not expected to be disturbed by the modern rice mill in the factory. There are presently over 1200 farmers who grow sugarcane and provide nearly 50,000 tonnes every season to the factory.The factory needs over two lakh tonnes of sugarcane to be run profitably, but Goa produces only fifty thousand tonnes of sugarcane, which is insufficient.