“VASANTDADA Sugar Institute will help farmers of Vidarbha to cultivate sugarcane crop. I am sure that can prevent the farmers’ suicide inVidarbha to a large extent,” said Sharad Pawar, Nationalist Congress Party President while interacting with mediapersons at Patrakar Club of Nagpur in ‘Meet the Press’ programme. Pawar, during his two-day Vidarbha tour, on Saturday, met Union Minister Nitin Gadkari at latter’s residence. Gadkari had insisted to bring the subcentre of the institute in Vidarbha. He had inspected a 100-acre land on which the sub-centre can be developed. “Agrarian crisis can be avoided if different crops are cultivated. Since long, Vidarbha farmers have been coming up with cotton and soyabean which are not yielding satisfactory results.

 

Vasantdada Sugar Institute would conduct training for the farmers of this region as to how to cultivate sugarcane and how to extract its biproducts. I feel it will reduce farmers’ suicide. From sugarcane, we could extract sugar as well as ethanol. These products can lead to open industries which will create jobs,” Pawar made it clear. If the farmers in Marathwada, Khandesh can take crops of sugarcane, why can’t their counterparts in Vidarbha would do it as well, Pawar raised the question. Pawar assured that he would follow-up of the institute’s work and stand before mediapersons after one and a half years .