Processing of Sugarbeet in India

This working paper makes a part of bigger project on “Economic and Management Aspects of Sugar Production from Sugar beet” sponsored by the Ministry of Agriculture, Government of India, New Delhi, to the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad. The objective of the paper was to examine the economics of sugar production under different systems, namely cane sugar alone, beet sugar alone, and cane and beet sugar in the same sugar factory. For this purpose The Ganganagar Sugar Mills, Limited, (along with cane) in India, was selected. The analysis of data for the year 1979-80 showed that the sugar unit at Sri Ganganagar was incurring losses. It was observed that processing of beet alone was the most costly which processing of cane and beet in the same unit was least costly system. The evidence, however, was not conclusive to suggest that factories in the area would benefit from incorporating best processing. This was primarily due to some basic problems with the economic viability of cane processing itself. Nevertheless, beet processing in a cane-processing unit would have implications on resources use at farm level. Therefore, a more comprehensive economic analysis of the total beet system should make the basis of decision on the introduction of this crop in identical areas. This is to be covered in the main study.