Role of Sugar Factory in the Transformation of the Rural Economy: a Comparative Study of Sugar Factories in Khuzestan and Maharashtra

The sugar factory is the major agro-based rural industry. It has brought major social?economic changes in the rural area. The sugar industry is the second largest agro-based industry in India. Its contribution to the Indian economy is enormous. Further, millions of sugarcane farmers, a large mass of agricultural labours and skilled and semi-skilled workers, mostly from rural areas, earn their livelihood from the sugar industry. Sugarcane and sugar beet farming, and sugar industry also hold special importance in the agricultural development and economy of Iran. Sugarcane is one of the important cash crops grown in Iran providing employment to about 50,000 people and contributing to the growth of the vital rural economy. For the present study, sugar factories at Malegaon in Baramati tahsil in the Pune district (Maharashtra) and at Karun and Ahwaz in the Khuzestan Province were selected. The Malegaon and Karun factories use sugarcane as the raw material, but the Ahwaz refinery uses sugar beet as the raw material.