Sanjivani's fall: A bitter pill to swallow

PANAJI
The ailing Sanjivani Sahakari Sakhar Karkhana (SSSK) - Goa’s lone sugar factory- continues to be a bitter pill to swallow for several employees and hundreds of farmers even after five years of its closure - with the State government’s attempt to revive the factory bearing no fruits.

As such, uncertainty continues over the much-expected revival of the mill at Dharbandora - the one started way back in 1972-73 by the State’s first Chief Minister Dayanand ‘Bahusaheb’ Bandodkar.

“The government has no choice but to shut down the Sanjivani Sugar Factory due to consistent financial losses that crossed over Rs 100 crores, accompanied by outdated machinery, and a lack of sugarcane supply,” a former agriculture director told 'The Goan'.

Another senior official in the government said that the sugarcane factory’s mounting debt has crossed Rs 100 crore. “Starting from initial Rs 8 crore annual losses, it has now touched almost Rs 16-Rs 17 crore a year. The government is also paying money to the farmers, which is around Rs 8-11 crore apart from salary being paid to the existing staff, which is somewhere between Rs 6-7 crores since 2019,” the official said.

The closure significantly impacted more than 700 sugarcane farmers in the State, who for the past three to four years relied on the hope to see its revival, before a large number of them shifted to cultivation of other crops and are either no longer growing sugarcane or the production is much below what it was in the past.

From the production of a whopping 47,000 tonnes of sugarcane, it has now been limited to only 10,000 metric tonnes, which is being supplied to the mills in Karnataka and Maharashtra at zero profit.

Sugarcane cultivation was dominated in the talukas of Sanguem, Quepem, Canacona, Dharbandora, Sattari, Bicholim and Pernem, with Sanguem having the maximum area under cultivation with the Salaulim irrigation project/ dam being located there.

A LOOK BACK…..

It was in 1968 that the Sanjivani Horticulturists Cooperative Society was established aiming for the promotion of sugarcane crop in Goa – but also to give a boost to cooperative movement in the state and to bring about the green revolution and to build up the rural economy.

The government sponsored the establishment of a cooperative sugar factory with the effective participation of cultivators in the year 1972-1973 and named it “Sanjiavni Sahakari Sakhar Karkhana Limited”- located in Ponda taluka initially (later, with the formation of Dharbandora taluka, its jurisdiction was shifted).

The Sanjivani Sahakari Sakhar Karkhana is the sole sugar factory in Goa having a capacity of 1250 TCP (Total cursing Capacity) per day. The first crushing season was reported in 1973-74- a trial season with farmers registering a total production of 13,500 metric tonnes of cane. The production jumped in 1974-75 with the farmers producing over 31,000 tonnes of sugarcane. Thereafter, there was no looking back. The factory received 55,000 tonnes of cane in 1977-78 and went up to 60k in the subsequent years.

According to a government source, when the factory had commenced, there were about 1250 registered members who managed to raise funds from financial institutions in the form of loans, with a total capital investment in the project ranging from Rs 3.50cr to 45 crore.

“It was at that time, Government of Goa Daman and Diu who through its Registrar of Cooperative Societies provided loans, grants in aid and other support to the factory,” sources said, adding that post-1990, the factory started crumbling financially.

The government took over the factory in 1996 as a measure to contain the losses. At that time, the factory had incurred a Rs 8 crore loss. Now, after 27 years, the losses have mounted to a whopping Rs 135 crore.

“There were, in fact, no steps to get the industry to profit. The sugarcane produced in the State was not meeting the requirement of the factory and hence the factory had to purchase cane from neighbouring districts, which was not very profitable,” sources said, adding “Hence, the government deemed fit to close down the plant”.

Currently, the sugarcane crushing plant is redundant and the farmers have quit sugarcane cultivation.

WHAT LED TO FACTORY’S DOWNFALL

Former Administrator Satej Kamat said, “For any factory to be sound there has to be assured production and supply but here it was not the case. The sugarcane produced in the State was not sufficient enough for the factory and hence, the mill became non-maintainable over the years”.

He explained that during its 50-year-long operation, the factory must have achieved a no-profit no-loss target on seven to eight occasions while the rest of the time, it was under losses.

Apart from mounting debt, the poor management and inefficient operations were other reasons, alongside the fact that equipment at the factory was considered old and not up to date, leading to higher production costs.

“The downfall of the factory started in the 90s. Lack of raw material coupled with failure to appoint a technically sound person to look into the affairs of the factory led to its ultimate end,” Kamat said.

SUGARCANE PRODUCTION BEFORE & AFTER CLOSER

According to reports, in 2017-18 around 789.48 hectares (ha) of land was under cultivation, with the engagement of 955 farmers producing 47,503.723 tonnes of sugarcane. In the subsequent year, 798.64 ha of land was under cultivation with the engagement of 865 farmers, who then produced 33,212.773 tonnes of sugarcane.

The factory was shut in 2019 and from then, the downfall of sugarcane production began. The year 2019-20 saw 664.17 hectares of land under particular cultivation, while sugarcane yield declined to 26,282.620 tonnes; the number of sugarcane farmers came down to 785.

In 2020-21, 535 farmers were engaged in the cultivation, the number that came down to almost 400 in 2021-22, with production reporting 31,202 tonnes and 25,000 tonnes, subsequently. In 2023-24, the production was merely 10k tonnes.

Pralhad Prabhu, a farmer informed, “Sending sugarcane to Karnataka is unaffordable as the entire earnings would be spent on transportation. So, we felt it better to shift to an alternative, till the government revives the plant.”

He said that sugar production was possible at the factory, provided the government had taken steps much in advance for its revamp. “Farmers had raised the issue before successive governments,” Prabhu said.

GOVT SHELLS OUT RS 6-7CR ANNUALLY TOWARDS STAFF PAYMENT

In a bid to provide financial support to around 170 staffers, the State Government introduced a scheme to provide grant-in-aid to the factory. The scheme has got its final extension till December end.

The factory has got around `170 employees including 99 regular staff. The government had asked the staffers to opt for voluntary retirement, which they denied and demanded financial support or transfer in service to another department.

According to sources, the government has been paying, annually Rs 6-7cr as grants towards the salary payment. “I had recommended VRS to the staff, but the government did not make it mandatory and continued to pay them the salaries, with zero revenue generation,” Kamat said.

Sources informed that this could be the last financial benefit extended to the factory as the government is in no position to continue the same. Sources said that the staffers are again requested to opt for voluntary retirement.

TEMPORARY FINANCIAL RELIEF TO THE FARMERS

In lieu of the Dharbandora-based Sanjivani Sugar Factory’s closure in 2019, the government in 2020 notified a scheme “Special Assistance for Sugarcane Growers” in the State, for a period of five years.

According to the Administrator of Sanjivani Rajesh Desai, the government, from 2020-21 till 2023-24, has paid around 40 crore to close to 700 farmers, while this year's compensation is under consideration. The scheme has been extended till March 31, 2025.

As per the information, in the first year- 2020-21, 731 farmers were paid compensation of Rs 11.83 crore, at a rate of Rs 3,000 per metric tonne. For the year 2021-22, the rate was revised to Rs 2,800 per metric tonne, as per which Rs 10.28cr were paid to 690 farmers.

In 2022-23, 665 farmers were paid compensation of Rs 8.86 cr at a rate of Rs 2,600 per metric tonne, while last year, the government shelled out Rs 8.32 crore to 682 farmers. The rate fixed by the government was Rs 2,400 per metric tonne.

GOVT TRANSFERRED PARCELS OF SANJIVANI LAND FOR OTHER PURPOSES

More than 4.20 lakh sq mtrs of the 15-lakh allotted to the Sanjivani factory for agricultural purposes has been officially given away for non-agricultural purposes.

Almost 25000 sq metres of land was transferred to a college run by the trust of MLA Ganesh Gaonkar and another two lakh sq metres to the Union government for setting up a National Forensic Sciences University (NFSU) - the foundation stone for which was laid by Union Home Minister Amit Shah in August 2021 - even before the land was transferred (in 2022).

Earlier in 2018, two lakh were transferred to the Bar Association for setting up a law college. Farmers were upset with the State government for failing to take them into confidence or having passed the proposal before the general body. Authorities have also come across illegal encroachment by way of 50 to 60 houses and two stone quarries operating on the land.

‘SANJIVANI’ FOR FARMERS & FACTORY FOR 18 MONTHS

From zero revenue to earning Rs 54 lakh revenue in 18 months was something to cheer about for Sanjivani and its dependents. When Satej Kamat, former administrator, took charge in September 2022 - with his technical knowledge - he explored various other sources of revenue generation which did pay off.

Setting up an organic farm to introduce parking fees for heavy trucks to finally manage to get rent out from the State Cooperative Bank, operational at the factory site since its inception- were some of the options that fetched revenue for the factory.

Almost 24 plots are developed for growing vegetable farming and eight teams of contract workers are given incentives for their vegetable cultivation. The vegetable production is sold at the outlet of Sanjivani Sugar Factory. He also introduced fish farming.

Sanjivani, on its own, also cultivated three varieties of canes, including C86032, C92005 and C10001, at its farm. The recovery rate (sugar content in canes) is 11 to 12% instead of the 8 to 9% in the local varieties.

“The Goa State Cooperative Bank, which was opened within the campus soon after the factory was set up in 1972, never paid any rent. However, from October 2023, the bank started paying Rs 6,000 monthly as rent,” Kamat said.