Indian experts visit St Antoine Cooperative

Following a visit, made in January 2017, by Sumil Bholah, Minister of Business Enterprise and Cooperatives to India, a collaboration has been established between the St Antoine Planters Cooperative Trust and the Shree Datta Shetkari Sahakari Sakhar Karkhana Ltd, Shrilol, India, as regards the sharing of know-how and techniques on sugar cane cultivation for better yield of sugarcane.

The bilateral relation is being materialised by the visit of two experts from the Shetkari Sahakari Sakhar Karkhana Ltd, a high technology based sugar cane factory to be found in the district of Kolhapur.

The experts are Appaso Shankar PATIL (Soil Chemist) and Amit Vasantrao MANE (Agri. Overseer) who have a wide experience in the sugar cane sector in India.

Shree Datta Shetkari Sahakari Sakhar Karkhana Ltd of Shirol

The Shree Datta Shetkari Sahakari Sakhar Karkhana Ltd., Shirol, has been registered as a Co-operative Society under the Maharashtra Co- Operative Societies Act, 1960 and was inaugurated on 9th June 1969. It is operating in the state of Maharastra and Karnataka and regroups over 115 villages. The main products of the sugar cane factory are white sugar, distillery, ethanol and compost.

Moreover, it is involved in advanced cane development activities such as high technology based laboratory for conducting soil testing.

Potential areas of collaboration

Sharing of know –how/ experience in sugar cane cultivation of the Shree Datta Shetkari  Sahakari Sakhar Karkhana Ltd with sugar cane planters of the St Antoine Cooperative society if the fields of soil analysis and its  impact on yield, techniques for improving yield of sugar cane and other biotechnological support were on the programme of their visit in Mauritius.

During their stay here, the Indian experts visited the sugarcane fields of the St Antoine cooperative, Omnicane and the Rose Belle Sugar Estate and had meetings with officers of the Ministry of Business, Enterprise and Cooperatives (Cooperatives Division), St. Antoine Planters Cooperative Trust (SAPCT), Mauritius Sugar Syndicate (MSS), Mauritius Cane Industry Authority (MCIA), Mauritius Cooperative Agricultural Federation Ltd (MCAF), Mauritius Fairtrade Cooperative Federation Ltd (MFTCF); members of cooperative credit societies; and had working sessions with sugarcane planters.

An overview of the Cooperatives Sugar sector

The cooperative cane sector regroups over 140 Cooperative credit societies in Mauritius with a total turnover of Rs 578 m. The national contribution of the sector accounts for 10% of the national production of sugar and over 50 % of small cane planters are grouped into cooperatives.

Major Challenges faced by the sector

The Mauritius Cooperative Agricultural Federation Ltd (MCAF) was founded on the 16 August 1950 with the main objectives of defending and promoting the interests of its affiliates. The Federation regroups 155 cooperative credit societies which are cultivating 7,000 hectares and producing 33,420 MT of sugar.

The main services provided by the Federation are to:

• Assist affiliated cooperative societies and sugar cane planters in responding to challenges facing the sugar sector by pursuing each and every opportunity that may be beneficial to member planters.
• Promote and safeguard the agricultural interest of affiliated societies by acquiring, disseminating and exchanging of useful, pertinent and practical information.
• Provide agro-inputs at a reasonable price to member planters as well as other planters around the island and to
• Ensure adherence to good agricultural practices while promoting the use of eco-friendly fertilizers and pesticides.

However sugar is being sold at a premium of 60 USD per ton of sugar and the yield of sugar cane is low (on average 1 arpent - 40T of sugar cane). Planters have access to limited capacity in terms of advanced technology for soil testing and that the variety of the sugar cane cultivated has a direct impact on the yield.

Price reduction and the removal of quota from the EEC, increase in cost of production, low yield of sugar cane, lack of labour and ageing population of cooperative planters are the challenges facing the cane industry at large and the cooperatives of sugar cane planters in particular.

Upgrading of Cooperative Societies

Government   reckons   the   importance   of   the   cooperative   sector   and   is   therefore encouraging the promotion and development of cooperative movement by providing the appropriate institutional, fiscal and policy support that aims at  providing   support  and assists   them   in   their   empowerment   and   development to offer innovative, unique and quality products; make use of modernised equipment and create more visibility in the market and mainly to obtain technical know-how from Experts and Consultants in specialised fields.

It is in this connection that the two experts of the Shri Datta Shetkari Sahakari Sakhar Kharkhana Ltd were in Mauritius.

During a brief meeting with News on Sunday, Messrs A.S Patil and Vasantrao Mane said that they have been able to suggest to cooperative cane planters of St Antoine how to increase cane production and subsequently sugar. They underlined that in Maharashtra, cane tubes are smaller in length with the ‘eyes’ only which are planted, meaning that a greater number of tubes are put in the soil with more cane plants growing. They also share their technical know-how in soil analysis and the use of soil nutrients. They told the Ministry that analysis of soil, water and plant should be given free of cost to cooperative cane planters.

The delegation left the country on Tuesday 5 September.