Sugar plays a very significant role in India's agricultural and industrial economy. Although sugarcane occupies barely three percent of India's total cultivable area, about forty million people are dependent on sugarcane farming and the sugar industry. A unique feature of the Indian sugar industry is that more than 58 percent of production takes place in cooperative factories, which are also the focal point of multi-dimensional socio-economic development in rural areas.
Technological development in sugarcane cultivation and sugar industry is vital for raising both productivity and prosperity in rural India. To achieve this, the Government runs the Sugar Technology Mission, which has developed five new technologies, which are being applied in many factories. Some of these like low pressure extraction, cane separation system, and sulfur burner have been commercialized for the first time in the world.
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