US-based farm equipment major John Deere on Thursday launched a sugarcane harvester, which the company says has been specifically designed for the Indian market. The new harvester - CH330 - will be priced around Rs 1.4 crore in the country and John Deere aims to sells upto 20 units in the next year.
“There is a huge market for cane harvester in India. Demand for such machines is expected to grow with rising cost of labour. We expect sales to improve in the coming years," John Deer India Managing Director and CEO Satish Nadiger said.
This is the second global company after New Holland to launch cane harvesters in India - the second biggest sugarcane producer in the world. Sugarcane in the country has grown in nearly five million hectares, but not even one per cent of the produce is harvested by these machines at present.
The new harvester, with lower 198 horsepower and that can cut 150 tonne cane per hectare, has been designed specially for India's small sugarcane fields having narrow row spacing and heavy crop yields, he added.
Mr. Nadiger said the company targets to sell 20 units in the first year mainly to sugar mills and entrepreneurs, who later can give it for custom hiring. It would focus its sales in sugarcane growing states of Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka.
