UP targets 50% rise in sugar output by 2017

Uttar Pradesh government is targetting 50 per cent rise in state sugar output to about 10.5 million tonnes (mt) by 2017 from a little under 7 mt during 2011-12.

This feat (corresponding to the current Five Year Plan 2012-17) would be achieved through the targetted increase in cane productivity from 59 tonnes per hectare to 70 tonnes per hectare.

New varieties of cane would be developed by research institutes to boost sugar recovery percentage (sugar production per unit of cane crushed) and made available to farmers.

The sugarcane production targets have been fixed at 175.5 mt and sugar recovery of 10.30 per cent. This year, sugar recovery slipped to 9.07 per cent in UP from 9.14 per cent in 2010-11, when cane acreage and production stood at about 2.252 million hectare (mh) and 120 mt respectively.

There are about 125 functional sugar mills in the state getting nearly 50 per cent of the annual cane crop for crushing.

The remaining (about 15 per cent) is preserved to be used as seed for next season and 30-35 odd per cent is diverted towards gur, khandsari and juice units, besides personal consumption.

The sugar recovery rate in UP is higher than Punjab and Haryana, but lesser than Uttarakhand, Bihar and Maharashtra.

Sugar sector supports almost 4 million farmers’ households in the state, which accounts for 50 per cent and 35.5 per cent of the country’s cane acreage and cane production respectively.

For increasing sugar recovery, the government targets to bringing the state at par with national average (10.39 per cent) by fixing 10 per cent sugar recovery under the National Agric-ulture Development Plan (2014-15).

UP has a total cultivable area of 24.17 mh, of which 16.562 mh is under agriculture.

To improve productivity, soil testing labs are being invigorated at district level for judicious use of fertilisers by farmers.