DSCL SUGAR-AJBAPUR

Ajbapur, India

An Overview Of Our Solution

 Fastest growing sugar business 2500 to 33000 TCD  5th Largest producer of sugar in U.P.  4 Factories (in Lakhimpur – 1, & Hardoi – 3)  Power generating capacity of 94.5 MW • Among most efficient factories in north India. • Bench Mark of other factories in certain areas  Systems & process  Training & development  Manpower deployment • Certified for three standards i.e. ISO 9001, ISO 14001, OHSAS 18001 in an integrated manner – first company to get three certificates at one time. • FSSC 22000, certified in 2012 • DSCL Sugar involves and touches lives more than 1.5 Lac farmers in UP. • 1997 – Greenfield Project – Installed capacity 2500 TCD • Expanded from 2500 TCD to 10500 TCD

Who is this solution impacting?

Community Type

Rural

Organization type

Other

Ecosystem (select all that apply)

Freshwater

Population impacted

Approx. 300000 people

Size of agricultural area

62000 ha

Production quantity

Sugarcane production @ 480 quintals per hectare

People employed

71 people

Describe your solution

cane development and social development program are running by us in our command area since inception of sugar factory with a objective to educate farmers through class room & field trainings by highly professional experts. The main focus areas are-1) Use of sugarcane dry trash for mulching to cover the soil surface which results into reducing the evaporation losses from the soil surface and after decomposing it increases the organic carbon contents of soil.2)Demonstration of best agricultural technology & practices on fields so that farmers can increase their crop yield level with minimizing expenses on farming. 3) Motivation of growers by experts specially 2600 nos. of lead grower and 6500 nos. of sub lead growers for moving towards mechanization and use of machines for planting & intercultural operations. Restoring Biodiversity- 1) Create awareness for use of bio pesticides like Beauveria basiana, Trichoderma, PSB & Azetobacter. To control the insect pest of sugarcane , promoting use of delta traps, pheromones traps, cards of Trichogramma chilonis & japonicum instead of use of chemicals. 2) Recharge ground water by maintaining & cleaning the existing ponds in rural areas and also educating the same to farmers.Motivating the growers for use of trash mulching, decomposed press mud & farm yard manure which results into increase the population of beneficial fungi and living organism in soil.

Describe your implementation

Now a day’s labor availability is a major challenge. Therefore keeping in view to overcome this problem we are focusing on mechanization in sugarcane cultivation To enhance the micro flora & fauna into the soils by adding organic matters, for which we are distributing well decomposed bio manure at minimum price so that organic carbon level of soil can be improved. Educating the growers regarding trash mulching & shredding. During 2016-17 14500 ha. area is covered under trash mulching and trash shredding is started from 2017. Crop yield and quality is depending upon the soil health and judicious use of fertilizers. To meet this requirement a well equipped soil testing laboratory is established in Ajbapur. Soil samples from whole command area is collecting and on the basis of soil test value soil health cards are being issued to farmers and wall paintings are also displayed in villages so that balance dose of fertilizer can be applied in the fields.Similarly to decrease the use of chemicals for control of insect pests & diseases , a big bio lab is established in our sister unit Rupapur. We are producing Beauveria basiana, Trichoderma, PSB & Azetobacter and distributing it to the farmers on subsidized rate which resulted into decreasing the use of chemicals.To evaluate the changes , we are doing cane area survey under which the data of all the activities are noted like beneficiaries of trash mulching, land leveling, use of decomposed press mud use of bio pesticides etc.The major key factors is increase in cane yield levels i.e. in 2014-15 400 qtls., 2015-16 430 qtls. & 2016-17 it is 480 qtls per ha. Similarly increase in sugar recovery from 9.25 to 11.25%. The major obstacle in implementation is poor adoption level of farmers. This requires continues awareness & training to farmers which we are doing under our cane development & CSR programs.

External connections

Our main partners are 1) Farmers 2) Bankers 3) NGO- Vinoba Sewa Ashram 4) Solidaridaid 5) IFC 6) Vendors/ Suppliers Under our CSR program our main focused activities are tree plantation in rural areas by distributing plants to growers . Renovation of school buildings & toilets under Swachh Bharat Abhiyan . Computer education to farmer’s children. We have also adopted 10 villages near to factory and in which monthly health camp for rural people are organized with collaboration with our partner Vinoba Sewa Ashram and similarly we are running programs for rural ladies & girls for safety, hygiene & new born child care . Vaccination program for new born babies are also organized with the help of local primary health centre of government. Forestry – we have planted 8000 trees till now in our factory campus and have planned to plant around 2000 trees in 2017-18. Similarly we have distributed 6600 fruit trees in 2016-17 to our farmers and planned for 7000 fruit trees for next year.

What is the environmental or ecological challenge you are targeting with your solution?

The environmental challenges which we are facing are : 1) Excess use of underground water in farming- Sugarcane crop requires frequent irrigation before monsoon. The Farmers are generally not give much attention for moisture conservation and judicious use water with the technology like leveling of agriculture lands, irrigation in furrows, skip furrow irrigation, trash mulching, drip irrigation etc. which resulted into excess drain out water from soil. 2) Excess uses of chemicals- Farmers are using pesticide, fungicide excess than recommended doses. This is because of lack of knowledge which resulted into underground water pollution & residual effect on our food crops also. 3) Diminishing organic matter in soil- The numbers of cattle s are decreasing day by day which creates shortage of availability of farm yard manure and also its use in agriculture.

Describe the context in which you are operating

We are operating in 576 nos. of villages in our command area. Around 3 lac. population are in our direct or indirect contact. The total culturable land in our command area is around 62000 ha. and out of which 15% of land is canal irrigated and rest 85% is irrigated by bore wells & pumping set. More than 90% of population of our command area is dependent on agriculture. The major crop is sugarcane i.e. 71% area is under sugarcane cultivation & the main crop cycle is “Sugarcane Plant- Ratoon- Wheat “.
Farmers are also growing wheat , paddy & vegetables as sole crop and pulses , legumes & some vegetables like potato , cabbage etc. as inter-crop with sugarcane.
Water- By trash mulching around 120 million water is saved in last two year (2015-16 & 2016-17)
Food Security – By promoting inter cropping with sugarcane , the production of pulses & legumes has increased .
Nutrition- As the production of cereals & pulses increases resulted into adding these in daily diets of the population.
Economics- Earlier farmers are getting sugarcane yield of 400 qtls per hectare (2014-15) but now It has increased up to 480 qtls. Per ha. And which has resulted into upliftment of their socio economic condition.
Sustainable development- we are trying to improve the sugarcane yield from 480 qtls. Per hectare to 550 qtls. Per hectare by using modern agricultural technology and providing continuous training by experts.

How did you impact natural resource use and greenhouse gas emissions?

Sugarcane itself is having 70% of water and this water is used in all the process of sugar production. The left over water after use is treated in ETP for irrigating the lawns and trees inside the factory campus. Discharge of water from factory to outside is zero. About 24% water is saved by trash mulching out of total requirement of 1500mm(including rain fall) for sugarcane in one year. This mulched trash after decomposing increase the humus & organic carbon of soil , the humus which is produced in this way is the main food of micro organism living in the soil. These micro organism after feeding on humus increase their population which ultimately leads to increase fertility as well as productivity. By use of bio agents, the side effect of chemicals is also reducing which save the underground water contamination which is beneficial for all living organisms. Biodiversity Improvement- 1) Create awareness for use of bio pesticides like Beauveria basiana, Trichoderma, PSB & Azetobacter. To control the insect pest of sugarcane , promoting use of delta traps, pheromones traps, cards of Trichogramma chilonis & japonicum instead of use of chemicals. 2) Recharge ground water by maintaining & cleaning the existing ponds in rural areas and also educating the same to farmers. 3) Motivating the growers for use of trash mulching, decomposed press mud & farm yard manure which results into increase the population of beneficial fungi and living organism in soil.

Language(s)

HINDI

Water

By adopting practices like land leveling , trash mulching & use of organic matter via use of farm yard manure , decomposed press mud and green manuring reduces the water loss. By trash mulching around 120 million water is saved in last two year (2015-16 & 2016-17)

Food Security/Nutrition

By adopting intercropping of cereals, pulses and vegetables with sugarcane increases the food security. Avoiding use of chemicals by adopting bio controls , make our food more safe. More than 5000 ha. area is covered this year by use of bio pesticide

Economic/Sustainable Development

The sugarcane yield is increased from 400 to 480 qtls. Per hectare (2016-17) and will increased up to 550 qtls. Per hectare (2017-18) by using modern agricultural technology and providing continuous training to farmers by experts

Climate

By use of bio pesticide , the possibility of ground water contamination is minimized and by avoiding trash burning the air pollution is also minimized . Similarly by use of trash mulching, furrow irrigation & use of bio manure , the water level & soil temperature is also maintained

Sustainability

The economic sustainability is directly related with market based revenue. Sugar prices is the main factor for maintaining the economic sustainability for both millers & farmers. As the sugar prices goes down, the paying capacity of millers is also affected which ultimately affect the earning of farmers. Hence there should be equilibrium between cane prices & sugar prices.

Return on investment

Activity This Year (Lac. Rs.) Last Year Increase in yield Bio Manure 25.00 20.00 12% Beauveria basiana 4.40 4.00 Trichoderma 3.75 3.00 PSB 2.90 0.00 Training by Experts 1.20 1.00 Staff 90.00 90.00 Total 127.25 118.00 This year by increase in cost by 8% , earn 12 % increase in production.

Entrant Image

How could we successfully replicate this solution elsewhere?

In 2009-10 we started the massive cane development work on selected growers under IFC project than slowly we covered all the area now and the results are significant. To popularize the use of machines for different agronomic practices in sugarcane , help from state government and Sugarcane Department of Uttar Pradesh is still required , so that mechanization can be spread on large scale.

Overview