After two consecutive years of bumper production, sugarcane farmers in the country might plant the crop in a lesser area this year because of poor returns from the crop, a senior government official said on Tuesday.
?Sugarcane area is less this year in comparison to last year and farmers will look at market situation and prices before taking their sowing decision,? agriculture secretary P K Mishra told reporters on the sidelines of industry conference. He said that as of now planting of sugarcane is lower this year and might remain so and that low area won’t impact production by much as yields could improve in the coming months. As per latest government data, sugarcane has been planted in around 42.82 lakh hectares in the first two months of the sowing season that began June 1, compared with 51.74 lakh hectares a year-earlier.
Already, some sections of the industry have started expressing apprehension that sugar production in 2008-09 (Oct-Nov) could fall to around 200 lakh tonne to 210 lakh tonne because of shift in acreage towards maize and cotton. The country produced around 270 lakh tonne of sugar in 2007-08.
?Sugar prices were depressed for the last two year, mainly due to bumper production and fall in global markets and we might see production dropping by almost 25%-30% in the coming season,? a senior industry official said.
He said inability of mills to clear sugarcane dues to farmers in time is also leading to a sense of disenchantment among sugarcane growers.On overall kharif sowing in the country, barring cotton and sugarcane all other crops have shown appreciable rise in acreage, Mishra said. Kharif sowing started on June 1 and will get over around late August. Rice, oilseeds, cotton and sugarcane are the main crops cultivated during the kharif season.
?We should wait for the cotton sowing to pick up in the next two to three weeks, before making a final assessment over acreage,? he added. Official data showed that cotton has been planted in around 18.23 lakh hectares between July 1 and July 4, down from 20.31 lakh hectares a year-earlier.