Sugarcane farmers in Maharashtra might reap a bumper crop this season on the back of a benevolent monsoon, but it would still be a drought for manufacturers of cane harvesters. The manufacturers and sellers of sugarcane harvesters, a farm machine that weighs about eight tonnes and can cut about 120 tonne of cane in 16 hours, are impacted by plummeting sales and margin pressure.
For example, harvester-maker New Holland Fiat India had sold 70 machines so far this year, compared with 113 machines in Maharashtra last year.
“It’s unlikely we would be able to meet last year numbers, not to mention exceeding it, despite the bumper harvest. The drought-like situation in Maharashtra last year resulted in an increase in supply of labour for cutting of cane,” according to Gaurav Sood, Head of Crop Solutions at New Holland Fiat India.
It is the same story with Shrijee Group, a company that sells harvesters sourced from Thailand. The Mumbai-based company had not sold a single machine this year, compared with 15 harvesters last year.
“The slump in sales has also been due to volatility in the rupee and inadequate subsidy from the State Government,” said Shrijee Group Chairman G.D. Agarwal, adding “smaller machines with about 30-40 tonne harvesting capacity could be useful in this market”.
New Holland Fiat India and John Deere are market leaders in the segment while a number of small players either source the equipment from other countries or have developed their own.
On hold
Last year, due to the drought like situation across Maharashtra, marginal framers and farm labourers were forced to migrate, which resulted in higher labour availability in the sugar growing areas.
In the State, farmers with large land holdings, contractors and sugar cooperatives, which have been using sugarcane harvesters due to shortage of agricultural labourers, have decided to put their plans of buying new machines on hold.
The prices of harvesters range from Rs 90 lakh - Rs 1.30 crore, depending on the model.
The state government provides subsidies up to Rs 25 lakh per machine in an attempt to make them affordable and increase acreage under farm mechanization.
According to Rajgopal Deora, Cooperation Secretary of Maharashtra, owners of harvesters, especially the cooperative sugar mills claim that the existing Rs 25 lakh subsidy is not adequate as they have not been able to achieve breakeven on the investment.
“They have demanded that the subsidy should be increased to Rs 50 lakh on each machine. The department is looking into that request ,” he said.