Farmers are finding the lure of growing sugarcane in Maharashtra irresistible. Thanks to the prosperity of farmers in western Maharashtra, the farmers in other parts of the state are shifting to sugarcane.
Favourable conditions not necessarily climatic but more political, financial and overall support, are making farmers shift. Increasingly land in Maharashtra is being diverted to sugarcane. This shift is significant in Solapur, Beed and Latur. Traditionally cane has been grown in western Maharashtra and accounts for more than 60% of the state’s contribution to the sugar bowl. But now, cane is also been grown in areas that have historically known to be chronic drought prone areas and they are contributing 25% to the sugar production
The state’s sugarcane production available for crushing in the current season is around 825 lakh tonne with around 160 cooperative and private sugar factories crushing cane. Around 20 new factories have come up this crushing season to expand the crushing capacity indicating growing appetite for cane.
Rajagopal Devara, IAS, Commissioner and Registrar of Cooperative Societies, Maharashtra, says there is a change in the agriculture pattern in rural areas. ?Drought prone Beed has become a sugarcane district. Solapur has seen tremendous progress in cane cultivation so has Latur, where there is a perceptible change happening,? says Devara. He attributes this to improve irrigation and says this could be enabling the shift.
Another reason could be easier access to resources for cane farmers especially financial resources. Nabard officials have talked of ?powerful crops? cornering greater share of the financial pie when compared to the other foodgrains, even though foodgrain are under a larger area of cultivation than sugarcane. But these are viewed as difficult crops while sugarcane economics is easier to digest.
While newer areas are coming under sugarcane production, some traditional cane growing regions such as the Nashik region is moving away from it and going for higher premium crops. Horticulture is the new favourite in these regions as it is more profitable than cane, especially grape-growing. ?In Nashik, sugar mills are not getting canes to crush,? points out Devara.
There are changes taking place and these changes need to be acknowledged and taken into consideration when policy and financial plans are being worked out for the farm sector in the state, points out Devara.