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Sugar industry today suggested introducing new sugarcane varieties to Uttar Pradesh (UP) to make the sector economically viable and sustainable.
Sugar is the largest organised agro-based sector in UP supporting four million farmers' families. Other industries, such as molasses, bagasse, power (cogeneration), etc, are supported by sugarcane, whose annual economy is estimated Rs 30,000 crore.
Yet, the state sugar industry is bogged by cane arrears of over Rs 5,000 crore pertaining to the 2012-13 crushing season due to higher cane prices and subdued retail sugar prices.
UP is the country's largest and second-largest sugarcane and sugar-producing state, respectively. During 2012-13, the cane acreage and production were estimated at 24.24 lakh hectares and 1,430 lakh tonnes, respectively, in the state.
"The sugar recovery percentage is very low in UP compared to Maharashtra and Karnataka, which affects the overall profitability of mills," Sugar Technologists' Association of India (STAI) secretary general Anil Shukla told Business Standard here.
He said the cane variety in vogue in western UP was introduced over two decades back and over time the recovery percentage had gone down due to many reasons, including diseases and pests.
"The dilemma is while the sugarcane price is fixed in UP, the sugar retail prices vary in the market. Unless, the sugar recovery percentage improves in the state, the industry would continue to suffer the vagaries of market forces," he added.
Shukla maintained not only mills, ultimately the farmers also suffered as the cane arrears pile up.
In the just concluded crushing season, the farmers had supplied sugarcane worth Rs 22,444 crore to mills vis-à-vis Rs 18,200 crore during 2011-12.
Meanwhile, STAI has launched one year Executive Development Programme (EDP) in Sugar & Allied Industry Management. The EDP would be run by academicians, consultants and industry professionals, wherein trainees would be exposed to in-plant working besides exposure to futures and international markets.
