ABSTRACT

This chapter reviews the performance and efficiency of the cooperative factories, concentrating first on Malegaon as an example. The factories have jointly created the Deccan Sugar Institute, to train technologists and conduct research. Maharashtra's sugar co-ops have also jointly established a heavy engineering corporation to manufacture equipment for sugar factories. The Malegaon Cooperative Sugar Factory was registered under the Cooperative Societies Act in 1955, the year that Dadasaheb Shembekar died. The long-term rise in cane prices is impressive, especially given that sugar prices were held tightly in check by the central government. Sugar factories have mobilized capital and expertise to provide what farmers need most: that is, irrigation. In the southern districts, which have little canal irrigation, cooperative sugar factories have organized numerous lift irrigation schemes for the benefit of their members. The State government's success in organizing relief work owed a great deal to the initiative, resources, and infrastructure created by the sugar cooperatives.