“Demand for maize will remain as ethanol makers are not able to procure the grain even when they are ready to pay ₹2,300/quintal and I have decided to shift a portion of my sugarcane field to maize next year,” says Jitender Hooda, a farmer from Shamli district of Uttar Pradesh. Many farmers in western Uttar Pradesh complain that the yield of sugarcane this year has dropped by 10-13 per cent and they perceive the popular variety CO-0238 to be responsible for this drop.

Hooda, who on Tuesday reached Ludhiana to discuss with scientists of Indian Institute of Maize Research (IIMR) how beneficial it would be to shift from cane to maize and what needs to be done for the best yield, said he would start with one acre and produce seeds so that it can be spread and a cluster developed to get continued buying interest of ethanol companies.

“Though sugarcane is profitable, prices are not increasing the way it should. On the other hand, there is no maize available in our area even though agents of a distillery are searching for it and offering ₹2,300/quintal (as against MSP of ₹2,090),” Hooda said. He expects to double his profit by growing maize seeds from one acre. “I will grow maize three times in a year and if I do not get good rates, will again switch over to sugarcane. It is worth taking a risk,” he said.

Though farmers think CO-0238 variety cane has not yielded good this year, Bakshi Ram, the breeder who has developed the variety, said the weather was to be blamed for the low productivity. “It is not due to variety. The climatic conditions that prevailed in April-May 2023 in western UP had reduced the yield and the other areas where the CO-0238 variety has been grown have not been affected,” Ram told businessline.

Bad summer

There were 2-3 rounds of rain at that time in summer, which proved to be not good for sugarcane, he said. Whenever there is no good summer, cane yields normally drop as ‘tillering’ gets affected even though the height is good”, he said. Besides, sugarcane crops in some districts like Saharanpur, Shamli, Bijnor and Muzzafarnagar got affected due to floods and unseasonal rain, he said.

Western UP has a share of 40-45 per cent in the State’s sugar production, while the remaining quantity is shared by central and eastern regions. According to All India Sugar Trade Association, sugar production in UP, the largest sugarcane producing State, is set to be higher by 9.3 per cent at 11.7 million tonnes (mt) this season (October-September) from 10.7 mt last season.

Indian Sugar Mills Association (ISMA) has said sugar output in Uttar Pradesh was at 4.57 mt until January 15 this season against 4.07 mt in the year-ago period and it will soon release the estimate for the entire season.

Some industry officials, however, said there would not be any impact on sugar production or the availability of sugarcane. “The yield of cane may be lower in western UP due to the current fog conditions for a longer period and once sunshine appears, the productivity too will be up. For mills, it is good that the recovery rate (from sugar produced out of cane) in western UP is higher by 0.3 percentage point from last year, though overall recovery in the State is 0.8 percentage point more,” said a top official of a sugar mill. This year, UP is said to have reported 9.9 per cent recovery, so far.

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