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G. Gurumurthy

Problems due to higher yield and excess production

Coimbatore May 2 Sugarcane growers in Tamil Nadu have been asked to reduce their planting area for the ensuing season by the Tamil Nadu Agricultural University's domestic and export market intelligence cell (DEMIC) in view of difficulties faced by the sugar industry across the country due to the cyclical yield/production increases and slower demand.

The DEMIC, basing its study on the evolving sugarcane/sugar productions scenario in the country, noted that due to better yield and excess production of sugarcane, the sugar mills in the State currently faced problems in milling and, therefore, they are unable to execute in time the sugarcane cutting from the farmers' fields. This has, in turn, led to the growers experiencing the problems of delayed cane cutting that ranged from 13-15 months as against the normal period of 12 months.

The delay in securing cane-cutting orders caused the farmers to lose cane, sugar yields, thereby a lower value realisation for every unit of sugarcane cultivated, though the price remained constant.

Excess supply

It noted that because of the excess sugar supply across the country and world markets, prices dwindled and the trend is expected to continue in 2007-08 season as well. To mitigate the situation, the DEMIC suggested the sugar mills take up modernisation. But at the same time, the Union Government should consider allowing sugar mills to produce ethanol directly from sugarcane, instead of insisting on them to go through the molasses route.

The TNAU study also suggested that the Government offer better prices for ethanol which will benefit the entire sugar-chain, namely the farmers, the processing mills, the environment and the State's economy.

(Tamil Nadu with about two lakh hectares of crop area and 20-25 million tonnes of production annually is the third largest sugarcane producing State accounts for a 10 per cent of the all-India sugar output of 24-25 mt)

More Stories on : Sugar | Agricultural Institutions | Tamil Nadu

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