09-07-2011, 10:29 AM
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Sugar is a broad term applied to a large number of carbohydrates present in many plants and characterized by a more or less sweet taste. The primary sugar, glucose, is a product of photosynthesis and occurs in all green plants.
Sugar consumption rate is highest in India as shown in the statistics received from USDA Foreign Agricultural Service. However, as per production is concerned, India has notched up 2nd position following Brazil, the largest sugar producer in the world.
There are 453 sugar mills in India. Co-operative sector has 252 mills and private sector has 134 mills. Public sector boasts of around 67 mills.
The primary sugar, glucose, is a product of photosynthesis and occurs in all green plants. In most plants, the sugars occur as a mixture that cannot readily be separated into the components. In the sap of some plants, the sugar mixtures are condensed into syrup. Juices of sugarcane and sugar beet are rich in pure sucrose, although beet sugar is generally much less sweet than cane sugar. These two sugar crops are the main sources of commercial sucrose.
Planting and harvesting
Sugarcane requires an average temperature of 75 degrees Fahrenheit (23.9 degrees
The harvested cane stalks and beets are taken to mills for processing into raw sugar. Once there, they are cleaned, washed, milled to extract juice, filtered, and purified. The result is a clear, sugar-filled juice.
Preparation and processing
When the beets are delivered at the refinery, they are first washed and then cut into strips.Then purification takes place.
After being purifed, the clear juice undergoes vacuum evaporation to remove most of the. Next, the syrupy solution is vacuum-crystallized to form sugar crystals. The remaining liquid is removed using centrifugaling and drying, and the sugar is packaged.
Indirect Transport:
When delivering cane from more remote locations, it may be more cost effective to transport the cane at a special nearby transporting station, and transport it from thereby road haulage units, designed for that purpose. However, tractors and trailers that can operate perfectly in fields, are mostly unsuitable for haulage by road.
Sugarcane is an annual crop cultivated very intensively. From preparatory tillage to harvesting many operations are involved. All these operations require lot of labour. Nearly 300 to 350 days of human labour is needed per hectare to carry out all the operations without any use of machine. This causes lot of demand pressure on labour in sugarcane growing area.
Since area under sugarcane has been increasing during the last 10-15 years, the demand for labour has increased so much thatn it is not available in peak periods and wage rates have also increased considerably.
The tractors and several attachments have provided good substitute for bullock power and human labour, particularly the latter one. The use of machinery has not only become cheaper, but the operations are carried out with more speed and quality of work is also superior.
The present substitution of human labour by machines is not a complete substitution but a partial one and it should remain partial substitution, so that the problem of unemployment is not created in rural area.
The cane produced in Maharashtra has high sucrose content. The cool climate there ensures a longer crushing season. The cooperatives are more successful in the state.
60% mills are in U.P. and Bihar.
India the world’s 2nd largest producer of sugar.
It occupies the first place in production of gur and khandsari.
The raw material used in this industry is bulky, and in haulage its sucrose content reduces.
The major by-products of sugar production are molasses, beet pulp, bagasse fiber, and cane wax. Cane and beet molasses are the syrups that remain after the sugar has been crystallized out. They are used mainly as livestock feed, as is the carbohydrate-rich beet pulp, which remains after the sugar has been extracted from the beet root.
