Rishikesh

BIDAR, MARCH 7. There seems to be no end to the plight of sugarcane growers in Bidar, who have had a reduced yield due to delayed rainfall and pest attacks. Also, the delay in clearing dues by all the three cooperative sugar factories in the district has left them in the lurch. Bidar does not have an irrigation project and most of the sugarcane is grown using groundwater. It is the only cash crop grown in the district, where over 93 per cent of the population is dependent on agriculture. Sugarcane made farmers rich and created a situation in which agriculture and cooperative banks thrived. The District Central Cooperative (DCC) Bank and the Krishna Grameena Bank, in many ways, owe their success to sugarcane growers. The high sugarcane yield in the district also led to the establishment of 10 Khandasari sugar factories, apart from innumerable in-house crushing units making jaggery. Bidar also has some of the highest yields of sugarcane to its credit, so much so that some organ