Origins of Co-operative Sugar Industry in Maharashtra

Origins of Co-operative Sugar Industry in Maharashtra Ignatius Chithelen An attempt is made in this paper to understand the origins of the development of the co-operative sugar industry in the Ahmednagar district of Maharashtra, The conditions leading to the emergence of a rich peasant strata in the region in the early 1900s and the relevant characteristics of the peasantry are discussed in Section I The spread of canal irrigation, coupled with financial support from a co-operative credit infrastructure, enabled the rich peasants to cultivate sugarcane, extensively as well as intensively, as seen in Sections II and III.