Tamil Nadu sugar industry asks Centre to rework loans in wake of Covid-19

Sector says new drought-resistant, high-yield and high-recovery cane to be introduced next year

The sugar industry in Tamil Nadu has been hit by lack of manpower and transportation to harvest the cane owing to the lockdown, and has urged the Central government to restructure its term loans and sugar development fund loans. With drought hitting cane production the past few years, the industry will be introducing a new drought-resistant variety of the crop next year. The new strain will also have higher recovery and yield than existing varieties.

The industry is planning to talk to harvesting machine manufacturers to tweak the products to suit smaller fields, since the available ones are not suitable. Currently