Industries Minister Nurul Majid Mahmud Humayun inaugurated the sugarcane threshing programme of the 2021-22 season by visiting Carew and Company (Bangladesh) Limited and Darshana Sugar Mill in Chuadanga on Friday.
Commerce Minister Tipu Munshi, State Minister for Industries Kamal Ahmed Majumder, Chuadanga 1 constituency MP Solaiman Haque Joarddar, Chuadanga 2 constituency MP Md Ali Asghar Togar, Chairman of Bangladesh Food and Sugar Industries Corporation Md Arifur Rahman Apu and concerned officials of the Ministry were present during this time.
Later, he took part in an exchange of views with sugarcane growers and officials of Sugar Mills under Bangladesh Sugar and Food Industries Corporation in the conference room of Carew’s Training Complex.
Speaking as the chief guest at the exchange of views meeting chaired by Industries Secretary Zakia Sultana, the Industries Minister said Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman had realized that there was no alternative to industry to take a nation on the path of advanced prosperity.
“Following the initiative taken by Bangabandhu, the Ministry of Industries is working relentlessly to build an industrialised and developed country by increasing efficiency and dynamism in the public and private sectors,” he said.
He also said that according to the data of the Sugar and Food Industries Corporation, the demand for sugar in Bangladesh at present is more or less 1.8 million metric tonnes per year and the production from the sugar mills under the corporation is only about 80,000 metric tonnes. The remaining 17 lakh 20 thousand metric tonnes are imported from abroad through private companies. The Industries Minister further said that modern technology has to be used in both sugarcane production and threshing. If production and productivity increase, then sugarcane cultivation will be profitable. Emphasizing on product diversification to make sugar mills profitable, the Industries Minister said that besides sugar, it is possible to get commercially available chemical products including alcohol, vinegar, organic solvent, hand sanitizer from sugar mills.
Organic manure can be made from the residue after threshing sugarcane. Weaknesses of sugar mills need to be identified by modernizing and strengthening the infrastructures.
