Simbhaoli Sugars to commercialise hybrid cane with 20% higher output

Faced with a huge shortage of cane due to crop diversion to wheat and paddy, Simbhaoli Sugars, the country’s second largest sugar refiner, is planning to introduce new hybrid variety of sugarcane which has a potential to increase yield by 20 per cent and improve recovery by at least 0.5 per cent.

Developed by Sugarcane Breeding Institute, Karnal (Haryana), the company has identified three high yielding sugarcane varieties CO 238, CO 239 and CO 118 which were tested in field trails in about 3,000-4,000 acres. The hybrid variety of cane is ready for commercialisation this year.

Simbhaoli is planning to buy seeds from the institute and provide them to farmers for sowing during the forthcoming season in almost all of about one lakh hectare (ha) area under its commitment. But, we have to ensure that the cane is not supplied for crushing purpose to other mills, said Sanjay Tapriya, CFO of Simbhaoli.

The cane with a length of 14-feet is three times longer than the existing crop and rich in sucrose content therefore, has the potential to provide at least 15 tonnes additional yield from the industry’s existing average of 55 tonnes per hectare. The yield can be increased up to 100 tonnes per annum utilising these seeds. Also, the seed has potential to increase recovery to 10.5 per cent from the average of 10 per cent in Uttar Pradesh.

Farmers have been using COJ 64 (Coimbatore and Jalandhar) variety of sugarcane seeds currently which has been in existence for 45 years. The seed has gradually lost the stream over the years.

Since farmers have diverted immensely to other better remunerative crops including cotton, pulses, wheat and paddy, the introduction of high yielding variety will provide higher returns on the same cultivable land which will raise their income.

Slightly costlier, these seeds would be compensated through higher yield and therefore, will not be a constraint either for farmers or mills, said Dr GSC Rao, executive director of Simbhaoli and president of the Sugar Technologists’ Association of India.

The country can not rely on import of raw sugars if it has to keep price under control. Therefore, it will have to explore options to raise its own sugarcane yield to meet the annual demand of 23 million tonnes as against the production of 14.7 million tonnes last year and estimated 16 million tonnes this year.

According to industry sources, India imported about 5 million tonnes of raw sugar mainly from Brazil of which Simbhaoli shared 150,000 tonnes.