PATNA, Feb. 15 -- The Bihar government is accelerating plans to restart nine long-shuttered sugar mills, with the Sasamusa unit in Gopalganj district expected to resume crushing soon, officials said. Chief minister Nitish Kumar, during a recent review of the "Samriddh Udyog-Sashakt Bihar" scheme - a component of his Saat Nishchay-3 programme - instructed the sugarcane industries department to move quickly on the revivals. He told officers to prioritise Sasamusa and then bring the remaining eight mills back online without further delays. The CM also asked for faster progress on proposals for new mills, repeating his goal of placing Bihar among India's five most developed states. The state has already scored one clear win: the Riga Sugar Mill in Sitamarhi district, closed for years after its former owners defaulted on payments to farmers and fled, is running again. Government intervention cleared legal disputes, settled dues owed to growers, and got the plant operational - a template now being applied to the others. The closed mills targeted for revival are located at Chanpatia in West Champaran, Barachakia and Motihari in East Champaran, Sasamusa in Gopalganj, Marhaura in Saran, Motipur in Muzaffarpur, Samastipur, and Sakri and Raiyam in Darbhanga. The effort ties directly to commitments made by the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) leaders during the 2025 assembly election campaign. Both Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union home minister Amit Shah promised voters that dormant sugar mills would reopen to raise rural incomes and strengthen the farm economy. The NDA manifesto pledged to revive nine old mills and build 25 new ones; cabinet approvals for those plans came shortly after the polls. Sugarcane is a mainstay of Bihar's agriculture, though the state has struggled to turn its acreage into higher output and better farmer returns. Bihar stands fourth in the country for land under cane, with cultivation spread over roughly 2.02-2.26 lakh hectares in recent seasons (an average of 2.18 lakh ha between 2018-23), accounting for about 4.26 per cent of India's total cane area. Annual production ranges between 11 million and 20 million tonnes - averaging 13.84 million tonnes over the same period - placing the state sixth nationally. Yields, however, remain low, typically 56-89 tonnes per hectare and often quoted officially around 60 tonnes/ha, well below top-producing states. Most cane is grown in the north and central districts - West Champaran, East Champaran, Gopalganj, Muzaffarpur, Samastipur and Darbhanga - where alluvial soils suit the crop but frequent floods from rivers such as the Gandak cause prolonged waterlogging. Heavy monsoon rains regularly submerge fields for weeks or months, slashing yields and leaving farmers with little choice but distress sales. Authorities have lately ordered rapid surveys of cane-growing tracts to map drainage needs and ease the chronic flooding problem. Where mills are distant or non-existent, growers have long diverted surplus cane to jaggery production - an estimated 10-15 per cent or more in some districts, including Madhepura, Bhagalpur, Banka, Gopalganj, Darbhanga, West Champaran and Madhubani. To encourage this cottage industry and give farmers an alternative market, the state launched the Bihar State Jaggery Industry Promotion Programme, offering up to 50 per cent capital subsidy, loans ranging from Rs.6 lakh to Rs.1 crore depending on unit size, and help with quality upgrades and marketing. Reviving the old mills and adding new capacity, officials say, should reduce dependence on jaggery diversion, give farmers reliable crushing outlets closer to home, and restore a sector that once played a larger role in Bihar's rural economy....