Solidaridad, which has been working with sugar cane farmers and sugar mills in some of the key growing areas to improve productivity, increase water use efficiency and deploy climate-smart agricultural practices, is looking to scale up the programme.

Under its programmes aimed at sustainable sugar cane cultivation, Solidaridad is engaged with close to three lakh farmers at present. Plans are afoot to scale it up by bringing as many as 10 lakh farmers under the programme in the next three-to-four years.

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According to Alok Pandey, Head of Sugar Program, Solidaridad, it currently engages with close to 21 sugar mills in the states of Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Karanataka, among others. It is looking to partner with around 40 mills by 2025.

The country’s sugar cane industry relies on more than 60 lakh smallholder farmers to produce its sugar. Due to small farm sizes and the associated inefficiencies, Indian productivity lags far behind that of many other sugar producing nations of the world.

“The yield per hectare of sugar cane farmers in India is much lower, compared to some other nations, including Brazil. Now, by following sustainable agricultural practices not only have the farmers been witnessing an improvement in yield but also a reduction in cost,” Pandey told BusinessLine .

Also read: Sugarcane farmers demand timely payment of FRP, SAP from mills

Solidaridad has been working with the stakeholders of the industry to improve productivity. One component, the VSI training programme, prepared by Solidaridad with funding from PepsiCo, and supported by the International Finance Corporation and Olam, enrolled 400 women from the Kolhapur and Belgaum districts of Maharashtra and Karnataka states respectively. The curriculum emphasises on water management, soil health, pest control, fertiliser optimisation and other good agricultural practices, which prepares the women for improved farm productivity.

“India is reported to have the highest groundwater depletion rates in the world, and in Northern India, it is at crisis levels. With agriculture as the dominant consumer of water, it is imperative that action be taken now at a national scale, not only to reduce consumption but also to harvest rainwater. Solidaridad is expanding its sugar cane programme to address this crisis. But this effort needs the sustained support of the companies buying sugar produced by these farmers,” said Prashant Pastore, Head of Water and Sustainable Agriculture, Solidaridad.

India is the world’s largest consumer of sugar. Sugar cane farming is highly water-intensive, and recent years have witnessed significant depletion of ground water resources — threatening food security, economic growth and livelihood of farmers. Solidaridad has been working with stakeholders to work on the way forward for sustainability in sugar cane farming in India.

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