Rangpur Sugar Mills: Tk 31 lakh saved from sugarcane harvesting
Rangpur Sugar Mills in Gaibandha saved Tk 31 lakh by harvesting sugarcane from its Sahebganj farm with their regular labourers instead of getting the work done by a contractor this season.
At the initial stage of this seasons’ crushing that started on December 24 last year, the mill authorities faced problem in harvesting sugarcane from their farm due to crisis of labourers.
“In addition to the mill zone areas, 800 acres of land was used for sugarcane cultivation for Rangpur Sugar Mills in last year and nearly 8000 tonnes of sugarcane has been harvested as inputs for the mill,” said Ayub Ali, manager of Sahebganj sugarcane farm.
“The mill authority called tender for harvesting sugarcane on 800 acres of land and the lowest bidder mentioned Tk 1234 as cost for harvesting per tonne of sugarcane. And so, the mill would have to spend additional Tk 31 lakh.
“To save the cost, the authority decided to harvest sugarcane with the mill’s labourers. The mill will close this season’s sugarcane crushing within the next three days,” the manager said.
Contacted, Rafiqul Islam, managing director of Rangpur Sugar Mills, said, “Despite various odds, the mill set up in 1954 is still under operation with the help of technicians and other employees.”
“This season the mill fixed a target of producing 3850 tonnes of sugar by crushing 55,000 tonnes of sugarcane. We expect achieving the target as the extraction of sugar content is much higher than previous years,” he said.
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