West Champaran Sugarcane Sugar Mill Bettiah

West Champaran district in Bihar's northwest corner grows sugarcane on its fertile Terai alluvium as one of the state's major sugarcane belts, with the district's sugar mills at Bettiah and Bagaha processing cane from thousands of smallholder farmers organised through cane growers' cooperatives. West Champaran's sugarcane tradition is linked to its history as an indigo district — after indigo collapsed in 1917, planters converted estates to sugarcane, and the colonial sugar industry's infrastructure became the basis for post-independence cooperative mills. The district borders Nepal and its Terai market towns see cross-border trade in sugar, paddy, and consumer goods between Bihar villages and Nepali bazaar towns.