Sugar Industry: Plea for Research to Meet Operators Expectations

The Mauritius Cane Industry Authority (MCIA) has taken a decisive step towards the presentation in August of a master plan which will revolve around the work of the Mauritius Sugar Industry Research Institute (MSIRI) in research and development .

A workshop was held at Boname Hall at the headquarters of the CEC in Reduit, Thursday, July 5, 2012. The purpose of this meeting was to allow operators of the sugar industry to present their views on the state of research conducted to date in MSIRI.They were also asked their expectations for the master plan is being prepared. The spokesman of smallholders, large farmers and millers were, respectively, Chetanand Dookhony, Jacques and Jean-Luc Forget Harel.

Professor Dhanjay Jhurry, Committee Chair MSIRI Research and Development, summarized the discussions at the workshop."The proceedings of this workshop and the ideas they have generated are consistent with the approach the committee on research and development has passed," he said.

He thanked the sugar industry players for their participation in the ongoing debate. "We wanted an active involvement of operators who are part of the sugar industry. It only remains to collect the images conjured up, organize, and include in the report. "

While acknowledging the tremendous work done by the MSIRI, stakeholders have not been complacent in relation to the weaknesses of the institute. Critics of course, there was but they were constructive. A major lesson that emerged interventions is the need to strike a balance between two of the three fundamentals of research design and development, namely basic research and applied research.

Balance difficult to find because the trend is toward the complete elimination of experimental or theoretical work which do not result in the daily actions of operators, farmers and factory owners large and small.

In other words, MSIRI should be a working tool and not a virtual research tool. Short, and clear guidelines for the management of the MCIA for research that will undertake the MSIRI are rooted on the basis of needs identified and confirmed the industry operators. And they are many.

Among these needs, there is the need for researchers to be men rather than field researchers from office. There are also plans to ensure ongoing communication, constructively and proactively with the industry operators.

Operators are also required to report, is the need to find solutions that can reduce production costs and increase revenue.

The CEC is a new organization which was established March 19, 2012 with the proclamation of the Mauritius Cane Industry Authority Act. It consists of six organizations including the Mauritius Sugar Industry Research Institute (MSIRI), which have thus far provided separately different types of specialized services for operators of the sugar industry.

In the new configuration in which already operate in the six institutions to support the sugar industry, the role of MSIRI be limited to research and development, a key route to innovation in an industry full of whips struck by the reduction 36% of the price of sugar on the European market and the disappearance of protocol support it reserved a guaranteed place in this market.His research will focus on the cane with the aim to increase the efficiency of the industry in terms of cost and competitiveness.

The center's research and development MSIRI is supported by the committee under the supervision of Prof. Dhanjay Jhurry and seven other members namely Dhanandjay Kawol (MCIA), Nitish Gopaul (Ministry of Agro Industry), John Robert Lincoln (Chamber of Agriculture), Jean Arthur Lagesse (millers), Jacques Forget (big farmers), Chetanand Dookhony (Smallholders) and Daneshwar Puchooa, an independent member.

The presence of the Chief Executive Officer of CEC and the Officer-in-charge of MSIRI on this committee is subject to a specific request of the committee.

MSIRI no longer involved in work related to the extension of its services and agricultural diversification. This task is now the Food and Agricultural Research Council through the Agricultural Research and Extension Unit (AREU).