The Punjab Government has announced that sugarcane crushing in the state will begin from November 25, 2024 onwards.

This decision was made during a meeting of the State Sugarcane Control Board, chaired by Punjab Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Minister S. Gurmeet Singh Khudian at his office, on Wednesday.

S. Gurmeet Singh Khudian said that Punjab has witnessed a 5% increase in the area under sugarcane crop. This year, sugarcane crop has been cultivated on 1 lakh hectares area, which is up from around 95,000 hectares previous year. There are 15 sugar mills in Punjab, comprising nine cooperative and six private mills, which are expected to crush around 700 lakh quintals of sugarcane. The state is projected to produce 62 lakh quintals of sugar this season, he added.

The Agriculture Minister directed the concerned officials to ensure that all arrangements are in place before the commencement of crushing operations, while emphasising that farmers should not face any inconvenience in selling their produce and timely payments should also be made to them.

Additional Chief Secretary Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Mr. Anurag Verma, Punjab Agriculture Commissioner Ms Neelima, Secretary Expenditure Mr. VN Zade, MD Sugarfed Dr. Senu Duggal, Director Agriculture Mr. Jaswant Singh, Punjab Cane Commissioner Mr. Dilbagh Singh, Director of PAU’s Regional Research Station Kapurthala Mr. Gulzar Singh Sanghera and Members of the state Sugarcane Control Board Kamal Oswal, Kunal Yadav, Sher Partap Singh Cheema and others were also present in the meeting.