Sugar production may dip 50%

“The sugar industry is in a crisis due to lack of cane,” a senior official said,“This season only 102 sugar mills (out of the registered 212) have started crushing cane as against 173 last year. There is a severe shortage of cane and we have estimated that less than 400 lakh tonnes would be crushed,as against 790 lakh tonnes last year.”

He said sugar production was estimated to drop by 50 per cent. “The problem is that even if the government grants transport subsidy to procure cane from other states,it won’t help as there is cane shortage across the country,” he said,adding that the situation was alarming.

Explaining the reasons for the shortage of cane,he said,“There are many reasons like farmers turning to other cash crops like soyabean after the sugarcane glut two years ago,inclement weather,lack of adequate irrigation facilities and power cuts. Farmers want to cultivate crops that give guaranteed returns,instead of waiting for a year for returns.” He said a crop like soyabean can be grown in three months and fetch a price of Rs 2,700 per quintal.

Two years ago,there was a sugarcane glut and the government had to pay Rs 131 crore as compensation to farmers for surplus sugarcane that could not be crushed. The long,dry spell this monsoon and intermittent unseasonal rains had made the situation worse this year,officials said and feared that the situation may deter farmers from cultivating cane in future.

Many powerful leaders like NCP chief and Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar,Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh (Congress) and BJP leaders Gopinath Munde and Nitin Gadkari are involved in running of sugar mills and the state is known to have bailed out the industry whenever it faced a crisis. After the glut two years ago,the state government had waived purchase tax worth Rs 252 crore; granted transport subsidy of Rs 130 crore; and paid compensation of Rs 131 crore for surplus cane which remained uncrushed.