Chapter 4 Sole of Sugar Cooperatives In
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CHAPTER 4 SOLE OF SUGAR COOPERATIVES IN DEVELOPMENT OF IRRIGATION FACILITIES 4.1 Introdwctj-Qft As seen in the previous chapter, the problem of distribution of water between sugarcane cultivating areas and other areas has been an important issue since the beginning of the 20th century. Now, as I have examined the issue only at the macro level in the previous chapter, it is necessary to see how some individual cooperative sugar factories have really acted in the area of irrigation development and how their activities affected other areas than their command areas or other parties than sugarcane-growers. In this chapter, at first, efforts on irrigation development of a few sugar cooperatives are examined, and then, the effects of irrigation development by sugar cooperatives on other areas or other parties are studied with examples from a few districts in Maharashtra. 4.2 Vasantdada Shetkari SuRag C<?PPei:9tiYfi> The case of Vasantdada Shetkari Sahakari Sakhar Karkhana Ltd., Sangli is worth noting because, although Sangli was not a traditionally known sugarcane-cultivating area, amazingly rapid development of lift irrigation was seen fcr in the early history of this sugar cooperative, because of the foresight and help of a notable leader, Vasantdada Patil. When the factory started its first crushing season in 1958, the area under sugarcane available to it from its command area was not more than 800 hectares. In the command area of the factory, there were 3 rivers flowing, namely, the Krishna, the Warna and the Verla; however, the government was then thinking that lift irrigation projects on rivers were not feasible. In such a situation, Vasantdada Patil started 4 lift irrigation schemes on experimental basis at Sangliwadi, Padmale, Haripur and Mhaisal along the Krishna River, and the producer members got about Rs. 15 lakhs of medium term loans for buying necessary equipment in 1959; these schemes helped to irrigate about 1,000 acres. During 1960-61, Vasantdada initiated 48 new projects along the Krishna River with the factory's resources. In February 1965, the factory got sanction to increase its crushing capacity from 1,000 metric tons to 2,600 metric tons per day, which must, no doubt, have accompanied the further development of irrigation. In 1985-86, there were 56 lift irrigation schemes irrigating 12,500 hectares of sugarcane field. The factory had crushing capacity of more than 3,500 metric tones per day (shetkari, 1987:4-8). Total number of lift irrigation schemes in the command area of Shetkari was 85 in 1993. Of them, only one is registered as a lift irrigation cooperative and the rest are not cooperatives, but are schemes sponsored by Shetkari and owned by the farmers. All the necessary technical and administrative help is given a to the farmers by the 'Lift Irrigation Department' of Shetkari sugar cooperative and the necessary loans from the land Development Bank and other national or commercial banks are provided to the farmers through Shetkari. When lift irrigation schemes are installed, jack-wells with turbine pumps to lift water from the rivers are constructed at first, and then, construction works are continued in order to make the water pumped from the wells to delivery chambers located at the highest point in the command area of each particular scheme. It is then delivered through outlet channels to each farm by gravity. It must be noted that, in 1993, within the command area of about 72,000 acres, only one-third, or about 24,000 acres was irrigated. Vasant Bandharas (the same thing as Kolhapur Type Bandharas discussed below), which help raise water level in wells, nullahs or other facilities are constructed by Shetkari to enable the dry-land farmers, who are not situated near the rivers and cannot benefit from lift irrigation schemes, to get some water for food crops or other crops. About 4,200 acres of land has benefited from the bandharas, and it is stated that the beneficiaries were not required to meet any expenses on this account (Latke, 1993). The factory now has crushing capacity of 5,000 metric tons per day (Shetkari, 1991-92). 4.3 HacfiAS Sufi&E Cooperative Shri Warna Sahakari Sakhar Karkhana Ltd., Warananagar, Kolhapur is another example of irrigation development under ^ -1 the leadership of a notable cooperator, namely, Tatyasaheb Kore. Warana sugar cooperative was registered in 1955 in an area traditionally known for gul manufacturing. According to Kore's autobiography, Warana had to do much effort in the area of irrigation development since around 1970. In December 1969, water supply from the Warana River completely dried up unseasonably and it became difficult to irrigate sugarcane and manufacture sugar. Warana sugar cooperative approached the government and got its sanction to obtain water from the Panchaganga River. One private transport firm cooperated Warana carrying the water by tankers. And also, one rich farmer from village Kuril of Kolhapur District supplied water from his well to the factory for nearly 3 and a half months. In the year 1969-70, the necessity of bringing water through pipes at the factory site from the Panchaganga River was realized; and a scheme was prepared to construct a jack-well on the river in Karveer Taluka, to pump the water lifted from the well upto the place called Kasradi and to let the water flow by gravity therefrom upto the factory. Around that time, Warana sugar cooperative constructed several bandharas on the Warana River; the ones constructed in the villages of Kodoli, Tandalwadi and Khochi are the examples. In 1974, to help the farmers around Shigaon and Bhadole villages who faced the problems of drying-up of the Warana River, Warana sugar cooperative, with the help of Vasantdada Patil the then Irrigation Minister in Maharashtra Cabinet, constructed a dam-like U bandharas at Shigaon. Fear of collapse due to heavy rain and many other problems were there, and the directors of the sugar factory sometimes observed the construction work even at night. However, the work was completed with 'miraculous speed' in 8 months (Kore, 1990, 206-212). After Shigaon- Bhadoli Dam was completed, bandharas of the same type came to be called 'Kolhapur Type Bandharas' (Op.cit., 74). In 1973-74, the stock of water in the dams constructed on the Warana River got exhausted due to uncontrolled lifting and there was no supply of water from March to June. Hence, a meeting of the leading cultivators situated alongside the river was called and it was decided to restrict the water release according to days and hours. in 1975, again with the help of Vasantdada Pat11 Warana constructed another dam at village Chavre, and due to this, the producer members sugarcane production increased form 1973-74's 75, 776 tons to 141,495 tons in 1974-75 (Op.cit., 73-76). In 1980-81, due to delayed rainfall, Warana again faced the problem of water shortage. Then, with the help of the state government, and Panchaganga, Shetkari-Sangli and other neighboring sugar cooperatives, a novel scheme of taking water from the Krishna River and releasing it into the Warana River was implemented (Op.cit., 95-96). And in the summer of 1986, the water lifted from the Morana River was released into the Warana River for several times (Op.cit., 112). In the command area of Warana sugar cooperative, there are many lift irrigation schemes. In 1992, there were 7 lift irrigation schemes which were, though originally established as lift irrigation cooperatives, managed by the sugar cooperative. The Table 4.1 shows the details of 6 schemes out of the 7. Besides, Warana has promoted some large and small lift irrigation schemes. The large ones, irrigating 48 hectares, cost about .Isl T^ble 4,1 : Lift Irrigati on Schemes Managed by Warana Sugar Cooperative Name of the Cost of the! Command Of which Total Cooperative Project Area Area under Members Sugarcane (Rs.) (Rs.) (ha.) Bhandavade 590,000 200 40 131 Savarde-Latawade 708,000 200 50 152 Talsande 452,000 240 60 264 Pargaon 250.000 160 48 120 Kodoli Kakhe 586,000 120 40 177 Satve 385,000 120 40 58 Total 2 ,981,000 1,040 278 902 SQUrC§ : Apte, 1989 :69 Rs, 850,000 and the small ones, irrigating 24 hectares, cost between Rs. 40,000 and Rs. 400,000. The member's and the sugar cooperative's contributions to the total capital expenditure are 5 per cent respectively, and the remaining is met from loans from a bank. In 1989-90, there were 25 large and 3 small schemes and 19 'group schemes', and they ^0 irrigated about 1,000 hectares of sugarcane-growing area in sum. In addition to the lift irrigation schemes managed by the sugar cooperative, there are many other lift irrigation cooperatives in Warana's command area (Apte, 1989;68-71), Warana Dam, which was completed in 1989, contributed much to tackling the problem of water scarcity in the command area of Warana (Naik, 1994). ilxJL Ba.larwnbaPtt laiAl SusaC Cooperative According to its Annual Report for 1991-92, Rajarambapu Sahakari Sakhar Karkhana Ltd., Rajaramnagar, Sangli, with the agreement with the government, had established 30 small and large lift irrigation schemes and had brought under irrigation 30,105 acres of dry land under irrigation of some 12,300 cultivators; for implementing these schemes, a sum of Rs. 273.38 million was made available from NABARD to meet the capital expenditure (Rajarambapu, 1991-92). In Figure 4.1, the present location of lift irrigation schemes sponsored by Rajarambapu, the only sugar cooperative from which I got such a kind of map, is presented. C^o^ n.;^^e.