The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh / Visakhapatnam News : Sugarcane cultivation comes down in Visakhapatnam district

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Jul 05, 2009
ePaper | Mobile/PDA Version

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh - Visakhapatnam

Sugarcane cultivation comes down in Visakhapatnam district

R.Jagadeeswara Rao

Main reason for farmers shifting to other crops is un-remunerative returns

Farmers prefer to use cane for production of jaggery rather than sending it to factories
New varieties of sugarcane seed will be released soon, says official

VISAKHAPATNAM: The area under sugarcane cultivation in the district has been declining, thanks to the twin factors of un-remunerative returns and increased cost of cultivation. This will result in a drop of sugarcane production and might cause problems of raw material availability for the four sugar mills in the cooperative sector in the district.

According to the officials of Agriculture Department, the area under sugarcane cultivation in the district had come down from more than 47,000 hectares in the district a couple of years back to 41,000 hectares at present. This is the normal cultivated area in the district, but so far cane plantation had been completed only on about 28,450 hectares. The area so far covered is mostly retoon crop whose yield would be less when compared to freshly cultivated area. The decrease in yield of retoon crop would be about 10 per cent, the officials say. But plantation would continue till the end of July and hence the total area under the crop would further increase.

Enquiries with the farmers and officials of Agriculture Department reveal that the main reason for farmers shifting to other crops is un-remunerative returns. Initially farmers had resorted to crops like casuarina because of the demand and good returns. But now they were turning to paddy and other crops. A trend witnessed in the sector was farmers preference for using cane for production of jaggery rather than sending to factories. This way returns would be more, assert farmers. This would also have an adverse impact on the availability of cane for the sugar mills.

It is in this background that a question mark hangs on the ensuing crushing season of sugar mills. For example, the Tummapala sugar factory had crushed a mere 40,000 tonnes of cane last year which, according to officials, is half of what was crushed the year before. Doubts are being expressed about availability of adequate quantity of cane for the coming season for the other three sugar factories at Chodavaram, Etikoppaka and Thandava. Farmers also complain non-payment of arrears.

Meanwhile, S. Ramakrishna Rao, Associate Director, Regional Agricultural Research Centre, Anakapalli, said that new varieties of sugarcane seed will be released soon. ‘2003v46’ ‘2000v59’ are the new varieties which will be released within a short period, he said, asserting that these new varieties--yet to be named—would give better recovery to farmers. Other new varieties like ‘Sarada’ and ‘Viswamitra’ which had already been released are popular with the farmers, Mr. Ramakrishna said.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Andhra Pradesh

News Update

Stories in this Section