Sugarcane acreage in Uttar Pradesh for the 2013-14 season starting October may exceed last year’s levels marginally, as farmers continue to plant more despite pending payments from millers.
Latest Government data reveal that UP farmers have planted sugarcane in about 20.50 lakh hectares (lh), about 35,000 hectares or 1.65 per cent more than corresponding last year.
“There will be a 3-4 per cent rise in cane acreage over last year,” said S.L. Gupta, Secretary, UP Sugar Mills Association (UPSMA).
new varieties
The cane arrears of over Rs 5,000 crore are unlikely to have an impact as farmers are assured of getting their payments, he added.
Further, Gupta said the area under newer and high yielding varieties such as Co 238 and Co 239 would see an increase of around five to six per cent, thereby aiding the sugar recovery next season.
At present, the area under new cane varieties does not exceed three lakh hectares, he added.
“Though there was a delay in planting due to the delayed wheat harvest, we expect the cane acreage to be broadly same at that of last year,” said Ajit Shriram, Deputy Managing Director, DCM Shriram Consolidated Ltd, which runs four factories in the State.
weather woes
Shriram expects the cane yields to be better this year on prediction of a normal monsoon.
Last year, the extreme heat, a delayed monsoon and an extreme winter did impact the cane yields.
Though UP has seen an increase, the total cane area across the country has registered a 10 per cent decline at 42.09 lh against last year’s 46.78 lh, mainly due to a lower acreage in drought-affected areas of Maharashtra and Karnataka.
monsoon factor
However, the timely arrivals of monsoon this year has raised the prospects for sugarcane planting and may boost the acreage in these States, sources said. Till last week, the cane acreage in Maharashtra was down 45 per cent at 5.11 lh (9.37 lh). Similarly, in Karnataka, the acreage is marginally lower at 3.27 lh (3.65 lh).
The country’s sugar production of 24.6 million tonnes in 2012-13, may decline to 23.2 mt in 2013-14, on lower cane output, according to US Department of Agriculture’s latest report.