9^th JOINT ANNUAL CONVENTION OF STAI & SISSTA – 19^TH – 21^ST AUGUST `10, CHENNAI TRADE CENTRE COMPLEX, CHENNAI, TAMIL NADU

The 9^th Joint Convention of The Sugar Technologists Association of India & South Indian Sugar & Sugarcane Technologists’ Association has been successfully organized at Chennai Trade Centre Complex, Chennai, Tamil Nadu from 19^th – 21^st August 2010.  The Joint Convention of the two organizations took place at Chennai after  gap of 25 years. 

Major highlights of Joint Convention

• Participation by over 1100 delegates from India and abroad
• Participation by 73 exhibitors in Sugar Expo - 2010 from India & abroad
• Printing/Presentation of 87 technical papers
• Introduction of Management Section
• Initiation of Sardar Gurmit Singh Award for the Professional of the Year
• Presentation of the S.N. Gundurao Memorial Lecture by Mr. B.S. Gurumurthy on "Indian Sugar Industry – The Decade Past & the Decade Ahead"
• Presentation of S.V. Parthasarthy Memorial Lecture by Mr. N.V. Nair  "The Challenges & Opportunities in Sugarcane Agriculture"
• Holding of Technology Provider Session

Welcome Address by Dr. G.S.C. Rao – President - STAI

 Dr. G.S.C. Rao welcomed the Chief Guest Dr. N. Mahalingam, Mr. M. Manickam, Mr. M.N. Pittie, Sardar Gurmeet Singh Mann, Mr. Ranjit Puri, Mr. Vikram Kapur, Mr. Monappa, Mr. Ram Babu & other dignitaries who came to grace the occasion despite their busy schedule.   Dr. Rao also welcomed the delegates who participated in large numbers during the Joint Convention.  

Addressing the delegates Dr. Rao said that STAI has been in existence for 85 years & it has been disseminating the technical knowledge of science & technology for the development of the sugar industry.  This scientific temper in this industry which is otherwise perceived as a political industry in a way there is lobbying and socio political problems and all that, it is STAI which has kept the beautiful scientific nature of the industry and thus we have been able to make a steady headway because of this habit of ours to talk science practice technology and implement the things which are relevant to our industry. 

The industry has travelled a long distance from 11 kg boiler to 110 kg boiler, from 65% steam consumption to 30% steam consumption, from running factories totally manual to totally automatic, from fermentation efficiencies going up from 80% to 90%, from single unit sugar to complexes producing power and alcohol etc. 

Dr. Rao said that sugarcane is a gifted crop which doesn’t take anything from the society but gives energy in its best form.  The Indian Sugarcane Industry is the 2^nd largest sugar industry in the world & we are also one of the biggest consumers of the commodity, therefore, the onus on this association is to make it workable & competitive. Our engineers ,technologists, agricultural experts, commercial people, everyone who are associated with this industry, these professionals are the best in the world, when we go abroad and talk to the people, we find that our technology is having least capital requirement & is most efficient operating with absolute perfection, it is the name of Indian sugar technologists and sugar engineers.  Like IT invaded the whole world we tell you today we are at the stage where we can invade the whole world, the whole world looks at us as the people who can produce the best sugar in least cost.

Another important point dwelled by Dr. Rao was the ways & remedies of getting out of the cyclicality nature of the Indian Sugar Industry as we are very inconsistent in our sugar production & we land into situations where we are not able to strategies anything, a situation where we are not able to plan anything, we don’t know which year will be surplus and which year will be shortage.                  There are definite reasons for this and these reasons should be deliberated over the next 2 days.

Dr. Rao also spoke about the many firsts being initiated by STAI in its activities and during the Joint Convention i.e.

New Initiatives during Joint Convention :

• Introduction of Management Section
• Largest ever participation by sugar machinery manufacturers in the Sugar Expo 2010
• Record number of papers to be presented during Joint Convention
• Presentation of 6 papers in the plenary session covering energy saving, process technology change, corporate social responsibility, relevant to the industry

New Initiatives at STAI

• Successful holding of the first ever international event by STAI - India Sugar Expo - 2010 at Nairobi, Kenya.  The expo received an overwhelming response from the delegates of 10 countries.  These delegates were highly impressed by the Indian technology and were interested to do business with India companies compared to American continent or Europe.
• Nomination of STAI as an technical expert in the Standing Committee on Sugar Development Fund, Govt. of India
• Digitization of proceedings of STAI Convention from 1935-2010
• Purchase of Office Space for STAI at New Delhi
• Introduction of Sardar Gurmit Singh Award for the Professional of the Year.
• Holding of Seminars at Lucknow, Haidergarh and at Bangalore on important topics related to the industry.

Address by Mr. T.C.S. Reddy - President SISSTA

Mr. Reddy thanked the Chief Guest Dr. Mahalingam and other dignitaries for gracing the occasion.  Addressing the gathering, Mr. Reddy informed that as President SISSTA, he has the job of thanking the president of STAI and its council and also the council of SISSTA for making the joint convention a reality. It’s a good move and we will go a long way in serving the sugar industry, much better in the years to come with a common objective of development. I am sure that the delegates will immensely benefit from the deliberations at the convention in the next 2 days.

Mr. Monappa – Commissioner of Cane Development and Director of Sugar, Karnataka

Addressing the delegates, Mr. Monappa dwelled that this convention carries a lot of significance considering the crossroads in which the sugar industry and the sugarcane farming is at this juncture of time and space and its very relevant that sugarcane and sugar technologists put their heads together and deliberate in the next 3 days as to which is the road for us.

Mr. Vikram Kapur – Commissioner of Sugar, Tamil Nadu

Mr. Vikram Kapur – Commissioner of Sugar, Tamil Nadu expressed his gratitude to the organizers of the 9^th joint convention of STAI and SISSTA for giving him the opportunity to address the delegates who have come from all parts of the country to Chennai on the occasion of 9^th Joint Convention at Chennai.  Mr. Kapur said that the delegates would deliberate on various advances in the sugar sector as well as chart out a roadmap in the light of the various developments that have taken place in this industry.

Dr. N Mahalingam – Chief Guest

Dr. N. Mahalingam thanked the organizers for inviting him as the Chief Guest and sharing his view point on the various facets of the Indian Sugar Industry.  Addressing the delegates, Dr. Mahalingam said that Southern India has developed sugar industry from a seasonal to a full time industry by expanding the period of cane crush, introducing new varieties, improving recovery and also by establishing distillery and power generation plants along with sugar units. It’s very essential to use our resources properly and efficiently.

Vote of thanks by secretary STAI Mr. P.K.N. Singh

Mr. P.K.N. Singh – Secretary thanked the Chief Guest Dr. N. Mahalingam - Chairman of Shakti Sugars Ltd. Sardar Gurmeet Singh Mann, Mr. M Manickam, Mr. M.N. Pittie, Mr. Ranjit Puri, Mr. V.K.                  Goel, Dr. G.S.C Rao, Mr. T.C.S Reddy, Mr. Monappa Commissioner of Sugar, Govt. of Karnataka, Mr. Vikram Kapur - Commissioner of Sugar, Govt. of  Tamil Nadu, Mr. Vinay Kumar, Mr. P Ram Babu , Dr. N.A.  Ramaiha, Mr. A.V.R Reddy & Mr. A. Haleem, sparing their valuable time out of their busy schedule to grace the occasion.   

Mr. Singh also thanked the other distinguished dignitaries, recipients of lifetime recipient awards, Sardar Gurmeet Singh Mann Gold Medal Award, Noel Deerr Gold medal Award, STAI silver medal award, Dr. Bansi Dhar gold medal award and recipients of the SISSTA awards.  Mr. Singh also thanked the sponsors of the various events, the exhibitors from India and abroad.

Release of Publications by the Chief Guest :

• Proceedings of the 9^th Joint Convention
• List of Cane Sugar Factories and Distilleries in India and SAARC Countries – 2009-2010
• Year Book and Technical Data Directory of Indian Sugar factories  - 2008-2009
• Souvenir of 9^th Joint Convention

Official opening of Sugar Expo 2010 by Sardar Gurmit Singh Mann – Chairman and Managing Director – Simbhaoli Sugars Ltd. 

S.N. Gundurao Memorial Lecture

The prestigious S.N. Gundurao Memorial Lecture was delivered by Mr. B.S. Gurumurthy – a renowned sugar technologist, who has been associated with the sugar industry for the past 5 decades.  Mr. Gurumurthy delivered his lecture on "Indian Sugar Industry – The Decade Past & the Decade Ahead".  Mr. Gurumurthy in his lecture highlighted the happenings in the past decade and the changes, reforms & liberalization of policies/rules & regulations that took place at the State/Central Govt. Level, leading to sea changes in the dynamics of the industry. 

The Indian economy has been growing rapidly at over 8% GDP/annum due to increase in population & per capita income.  However, the sugar production in the country is not keeping pace with this growth due to constraints in low sugarcane yield growth and limited availability of cane growing lands.  Our present per capita sugar consumption is at around 23kg or about 20 MT/annum on an average.  At this pace our annual sugar consumption per person would be around 41kg/per person by 2021 or 55 million tons.

To meet the growing demand over the next decade, the industry would require sugarcane on an additional 5 million hectares.  The area under cane is to be increased to about 9 million hectares by 2021 to meet the estimated demand of 55 million tons of sugar. 

This is a big challenge as well as an big opportunity for the industry.  This gives an opportunity to the industry to grow leap and bounds in the decade ahead.  The increase in production needed is not in terms of sugar alone, there will be corresponding increase in power and alcohol too for which also there is a steady increase in demand.  This will be a big opportunity, but it will vanish if the import route is chosen.  The real challenge for the industry will be to take care of the raw material SUGARCANE! 

S.V. Parthasarthli Memorial Lecture

The S.V. Parthasarthi Memorial Lecture was delivered by Dr. N.V. Nair, Director Sugarcane Breeding Institute, Coimbatore on "The Challenges & Opportunities in Sugarcane Agriculture". 

Delivering the lecture Dr. Nair informed that the organized sugarcane cultivation for sugar production in the country has a history of about 3 centuries.  The cane agriculture has grown from a minor crop supporting a fledging cottage industry to become the second largest industrial crop in the country.  Now it is emerging as a multiproduct crop providing raw material for the production of food, fuel, energy and fiber, besides a host of ancillary byproducts.

India ranks second in cane area and sugar production after Brazil but despite that there are a number of challenges that the industry faces.  There is a wide difference in the average productivity of sugarcane that varies from state to state i.e. from 25 t/ha to to 108 t/ha.  The cane & sugar production in the country show wide cyclic fluctuations due to rain fall, cane pricing, cost of cultivation, labour availability, pricing of other agricultural commodities etc., are the major factors that decide the cane and area production. 

Another area that hampers sugarcane production is biotic and environmental factors that limit the productivity of the crop in different regions.  Pests and diseases also cause serious loss to cane production.  Red rot is the major disease that affects productivity throughout the country and at present the disease is managed through the release of resistant varieties. 

To meet the above challenges, Dr. Nair suggested that a high level of preparedness and planning is required  at the technology as well as policy levels.  Future of cane agriculture in the country still holds promise in view of the diversification possible in terms of products and by-products.  Dr. Nair said that sugar factories will have to transform into integrated sugar-industrial complexes producing ethanol, electricity, fertilizers, chemicals and a host of other products apart from sugar.  This would make the industry more viable and pay better cane price to the farmers thereby sustaining the cane agriculture.  The production of biofuels and bioelectricity by sugar mills will supplement the growing energy requirements of the country substantially and also contribute to a better environment through reduction of green house emissions.

List of Sponsers of 9th Joint Convention
List of Exhibitors of 9th Joint Convention