Patna: The Bihar government is moving ahead with plans to expand sugarcane cultivation across the state, and on Wednesday, Sugarcane Industries Minister Krishnanandan Paswan called on investors to establish jaggery production units in all 38 districts. Paswan assured that investors would receive subsidies to support their efforts, reported Times of India.
Narmadeshwar Lal, the principal secretary of the sugarcane industries department, explained that many consumers, particularly in metropolitan areas, are increasingly choosing jaggery over sugar due to health benefits.
“In line with this trend, the state government has decided to promote jaggery production and will offer incentives to investors based on the daily sugarcane crushing capacity of their units,” Lal said. He added that the department would launch its “Sugarcane Care” software on October 1 to ensure a transparent selection process. Entrepreneurs can apply online to set up jaggery production units, which must be located outside a 15-kilometre radius of any of the existing 10 sugar mills, including the Riga mill, which has been closed for the past four years but is set to reopen soon.
Lal also shared that 81 jaggery production units have already been approved for the 2024-25 fiscal year, with Rs 12.4 crore allocated for subsidy payments. “Bihar has significant potential for jaggery production and could rank among the top five states, possibly even challenging Tamil Nadu for the third spot after Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra,” Lal said.
Currently, sugarcane is cultivated on 2.5 lakh hectares of land in Bihar.
