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| Cane area in Punjab to miss target |
| Vijay C Roy / New Delhi/ Chandigarh May 05, 2010, 00:24 IST |
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The Punjab government’s plans to increase the sugarcane acreage by 50 per cent from 60,000 hectares to 90,000 hectares would not be met this season due to shortage of electricity, as power plays an important role in irrigation. According to officials, the area under sugarcane cultivation in the current season would be 80,000 hectares and sugar output would be likely to the tune of 2.6 million quintals.
With farmers shifting their preference towards wheat and paddy, the consistent fall in area under cane cultivation has badly affected the sugarcane production in the state over the years, thus reducing the output. It is worth mentioning that the total area under sugarcane fell to 60,000 hectares in 2009-10 as compared with 81,000 hectares in 2008-09. Taking into consideration the drastic fall in area, the Punjab government planned to increase the area under sugar cultivation to 90,000 hectares in the current season 2010-11.
An official at the cane commissioner’s office said, “Our target would not be met this season as there is shortage of electricity in the state, as power plays an important role in irrigation. Initially, we were hopeful that the total acreage in the current season will touch 90,000 hectares, but during the recent review meeting we realised that the area under sugarcane would be 80,000 hectares as farmers were reluctant to cultivate sugarcane in their fields as they rely on electricity for irrigation.”
On being asked about the target which seems to be very aggressive, he said, “This year we have introduced new techniques, to increase the yield, like single bud technology, inter cropping etc. Also, this year, the farmers were paid on the spot and even in some cases advance were also given by the mill owners,unlike previous years(farmers used to wait for months to get payments), so we expects that the yield will increase this year.”
It is worth noting that during the recent concluded crushing season sugar output in Punjab touched a historic low of 1.9 million quintals owing to shortage in cane crop and lower crushing as compared to 2.5 million quintals during the corresponding period last year. According to the state government data, the output is lowest in the state’s history after 1980-81. The data states that in 1980-81, the sugar output in the state was 5.19 lakh quintals and thereafter it kept on increasing.
Also, due to shortage of cane, all the nine co-operative sugar mills in the state having crushing capacity of 15,766 TCD has been affected. The crushing season has been reduced to 42-46 days this season against 61 days in the last crushing season.
Even the picture of the private sugar mills was not very rosy. In order to keep themselves running, the 7 mills in private sector has to shell out anywhere between from Rs. 240-270 per quintal to growers. The installed capacity of all the seven sugar mills in private sector is 31,000 TCD(tonnes crushed per day). According to officials in the government their average crushing season was reduced to 85-90 days this year.
It is worth mentioning that state has raised the SAP (of sugarcane) to Rs 180, Rs 175 and Rs 170 per quintal for advanced, medium and late varieties respectively for the crushing season of 2009-10, which is also on higher side.
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