K Vasantrao Dada Patil Sahakari Sakhar Karhana Ltd.

Our sugar factory is out in Vithewadi, in the Deola tehsil. It’s a big place because sugar processing needs a lot of room for the machinery and the trucks. Being a cooperative, or a Sahakari Sakhar Karhana, we have a lot of members from the surrounding villages. During the crushing season, the whole place is buzzing with activity twenty-four hours a day. You can smell the molasses in the air from a mile away. It’s a very specific scent that everyone around here knows. We have our main office right on the grounds, which is where we handle the farmer payments and the scheduling for the cane cutting. It’s not a quiet job. There is always the sound of engines and the clanking of metal. We have a lot of people coming in and out, mostly farmers wanting to know when their crop will be picked up. The furniture in the office is old wood, and the ceiling fans have been spinning for years. We don't have a marketing department telling us what to say. We just focus on getting the sugar out of the cane and into the bags. It is hard work, especially when the machines break down in the middle of the night. But we have a good team of mechanics who know how to fix things quickly. It’s a community effort more than anything else, and it is good to see the trucks leave full. We have been part of this landscape for a long time.