The Hindu Business Line : Sugar beet planting for ethanol

Mumbai May 23 A co-operative sugar mill in Maharashtra has undertaken a unique venture to convert its complete crop of sugar beet for producing ethanol.

In its command area it has 1,525 acres of sugar beet crop ready for harvesting and crushing.

This is the first time in the country that sugar beet on such large acreage has been planted for commercial exploitation.

Harneshwar Agro Products Power and Yeast India Ltd at Indapur near Baramati has taken the lead in persuading farmers from Pune, Solapur, Ahmednagar and Satara district to plant sugar beet.

The mill wants to tap the emerging blended fuel market, which requires 56,000 kilolitres of ethanol per year.

Sugar beet is a crop of cold temperate regions and source of about 35 per cent of global sugar production.

Harneshwar Agro has been conducting field trials for five years now.

About 3,500 litres of ethanol can be extracted from one acre of sugar beet, fetching a market price of Rs 48,000.

Mr B.S. Chaware, Chairman and Managing Director of Harneshwar Agro, told Business Line that the co-operative has invested Rs 28.5 crore in plant and machinery for this maiden venture.

The farmer incurs Rs 10,000 per acre as input cost and gets average return of Rs 24,000, he said.

Sugar beet vs sugarcane

Sugarcane has sugar recovery rate of 12 per cent and a 12-13 month crop cycle. In the case of sugar beet, the recovery rate is 19 per cent with a five-month crop cycle.

The yield per acre for sugarcane is four tonnes while that of sugar beet is 6.5 tonnes; ethanol recovery is 2,700 litres for sugarcane and 3,500 litres for sugar beet.

Besides, the water requirement of sugar beet is one third of sugarcane crop.

Pilot project

Mr Jagadeesh Sunkad, agriculture consultant and sugar expert, said that a small-scale pilot project has been carried out over the last five years in the State.

"If more farmers plant sugar beet, it would be possible to extend the crushing and processing seasons in the sugar factories by another three months. Currently the factories run for five months and remain idle for seven months."

Mr Sunkad said that sugar beet could grow in saline soil with salinity level as high as 8.5 ph.

The crop can also be cultivated in wasteland in future.

Even the Tuteja Committee in its 2004 report on the revitalisation of sugar industry recommended cultivation of sugar beet, he said.

Currently, multinational seed companies Syngenta, SESVanderHave and KWS SAATA AG are supplying sugar beet seeds to Indian farmers.

The Indian Institute of Sugarcane Research, Lucknow is also doing research on multi-germ sugar beet seeds.

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