Sugar factories to face severe shortage of sugarcane

Sugar factories in the district are looking at a severe shortage of sugarcane following a three year drought and scarce rainfall this Kharif season.

The district has three cooperative factories, two private factories and around 10 Khand Saris or mini factories that crush around 25 lakh tonnes of sugarcane every year. But this year, they are faced with the challenge of readjusting their schedules for crushing half or one third of that quantum.

Sugarcane, the only cash crop in the district, is grown on 8-10 per cent of the 3.5 lakh hectares of land cultivated every year, depending on the rainfall. Output per hectare has wavered from 60-80 tonnes per hectare depending on the year of cultivation, type of soil and cultivation practices of individual farmers. The ambitious `250 tonne per hectare’ initiative to increase yields has not achieved much.

This year however, Sugarcane stands only on around 19,000 hectares of the 3.6 lakh hectares sown in the five taluks. This, farming experts say, is because farmers were discouraged by the low rainfall between 2013 and 2015. Area under Pulses has increased as they can tolerate low rainfall and cost of cultivation is less compared to sugarcane, says Ravi Deshmukh, training coordinator in the Krishi Vigyan Kendra. This is expected to yield only around 8-10 lakh hectares of sugarcane, thanks to the low rainfall in August and first week of September.

Umakanth Nagamarapalli, Naranja Sahakari Sakkare Karakhane president, performed the boiler Pooja that signals the start of maintenance and overhaul operations two days ago. “We are definitely looking at crushing less than average sugarcane. We don’t know by how much,” he said. He appealed to farmers to repose their trust in the factory by selling it their produce.

Mahatma Gandhi Sahakari Sakkare Karakhane that crushed between 3-4 lakh tonnes in the last few years, says it is planning crushing. Officials did not deliberate on the amount of sugarcane to be crushed and their schedule. Cooperation department officers suspect Bidar Sahakari Sakkare Karakhane, which is facing debt and other issues, may not start crushing at all.

But then, what will happen to the three private factories- Bhalkeshwar, Kisan and Bhavani sugars? How will they source their raw material?, asks a senior officer. He points out that the Khand Saris that crush around 5-6 lakh tonnes per year, will have to compete with the bigger players by offering higher prices, which would not be easy.

“Farmers always tend to suffer — whether they produce more or less. Why is that? The government should focus on the solutions,” says Vishwanath Patil Koutha, Karnataka rajya raitha sangha leader. He said the factories should crush all the sugarcane in the district, without resorting to buying from neighbouring states of Telangana or Maharashtra.